Retrospective Criticism. 161 



stormy petrel. Mr. Scarth states, that, in passing over a 

 tract of peat moss near the shore, in a small uninhabited 

 island in Orkney, one evening in the month of August last, 

 he was surprised to hear a low purring noise, somewhat 

 resembling the sound of a spinning-wheel in motion ; and, on 

 enquiry, he was informed by one of the boatmen who ac- 

 companied him, that it was the noise commonly emitted by 

 the alimonty * (the Orkney name for the stormy petrel) that 

 frequented the island when hatching. 



" On examining a small hole in the ground, he found the 

 bird and its nest, which was very simple, being little more 

 than a few fragments of shells laid on the bare turf. It con- 

 tained two round pure white eggs, which were very large in 

 comparison with the size of the bird. When he seized the 

 bird, she squirted out of her mouth an oily substance, of a 

 very rancid smell. He took her home, and, having put her 

 into a cage, he offered her various kinds of worms to eat ; 

 but, as far as he could observe, she ate nothing till after the 

 expiration of four days, when he observed that she occa- 

 sionally drew the feathers of her breast singly across, or 

 rather through, her bill, and appeared to suck an oily sub- 

 stance from them. This induced him to smear her breast 

 with common train oil ; and, observing that she greedily 

 sucked the feathers, he repeated the smearing two or three 

 times in each day for about a week. He then placed a 

 saucer containing oil in the cage; and he observed that she 

 regularly extracted the oil by dipping her breast in the 

 vessel, and then sucked the feathers as before. In this way 

 he kept her for three months. After feeding, she sat quietly 

 at the bottom of the cage, sometimes making the same purr- 

 ing noise that first attracted his notice, and sometimes 

 whistling very shrilly." 



It will be seen, on comparing the above statement with 

 that of Mr. Salmon (Vol. V. p. 421.), that two of the species 

 of Procellaria, the P. pelagica and P. Puffmus, vary not only 

 in the situation of their nests, but also, which is more important 

 in a physiological point of view, in the structure of the eggs. — 

 Jl 0. Westwood. The Grove, Hammer 'smith , June 1832. 



A comparison of Mr. Scarth's statement above, with that 

 of Mr. Drosier (Vol. III. p. 325.) will show that the stormy 

 petrel incubates in apparently very distinct situations. Mr. 

 Scarth found the nest (" which- was very simple, being little 

 more than a few fragments of shells laid on the bare turf") 

 on a peat moss, near the shore (of a small uninhabited island 



* " Allamotti" and " Allamoth" are the words in Rennie's Montagu's 

 Ornithological Dictionary, — J. D. 

 Vol. VI. — No. 32. m 



