PKOCELLARIID^E — THE PETRELS — BULWERIA. 



399 



? Procellaria anjinho, Heixekex, Edinb. Jour. Sci. Oct. 1829. 



Puffiiius columbinus, Moquix-Tandon, in Webb & Berth. Nat. Hist. Canar. H. 1841, 44, pi. 4. fig. 



2 {Procellaria columbina on plate). 

 Bulweria columbina. Dresser, B. Eur. VIH. 1871, 551. 

 Bulwer's Petrel, Yarr. Brit. B. ed. 2, HI. 636, fig. ; ed. 3, III. 664, fig. 



Hab. Eastern Atlantic, including coasts of Europe and Africa. Accidental in Greenland. 



Sp. Char. Adult: Uniform fuliginous-dusky, lighter, more grayish brown underneath, the 

 wings blackish, except the greater coverts, which are light grayish brown, like the lower parts. 

 Bill black ; legs and feet brownish (in dried skin). 



Wing, 8.00 inches ; tail, 4.75, its graduation, 1.45-1.75 ; culmen, .85 ; tarsus, .90-1.00 ; middle 

 toe, .95. 



This bird is said to be an occasional visitor to the Bermudas ; but its occurrence 

 there must be very rare, and due to accidental circumstances ; and its claim to be 

 received into the North American fauna appears to me to be very doubtful. The 

 first published mention of Buhver's Petrel was made by Selby and Jardine, in the 

 second volume of their Illustrations ; and it was there described from specimens pro- 

 cured by Mr. Bulwer, a gentleman who had been living for several years in Madeira, 

 where this bird was ascertained to be resident during its breeding-season, chiefly on 

 the small adjacent islets. 



Dr. Schlegel also claims to possess an example of this Petrel procured in Green- 

 land. Gould, in the tAventy-second number of his " British Birds," mentions a single 

 instance of its occurrence in England ; this was on the banks of the Ure, near Tan- 

 field, in Yorkshire, May 8, 1837, where a specimen of this bird was found which had 

 been dead but a short time ; and Mr. Dresser records another, taken off Scarborough 

 in the spring of 1849. 



It is not known to breed elsewhere than in the Canaries and Madeira. Moquin- 

 Tandon speaks of it as very common on the small Island of Alegranza, where it 

 breeds in the holes in the rocks. It has a cry resembling that of a puppy, from 

 which it receives the local name of Perrito. Mr. Godman (''Ibis," 1872) mentions 

 finding it breeding in considerable numbers on the small Island of Deserta. It was 

 nocturnal in its habits, and was not seen flying about in the daytime, although there 

 were plenty of a smaller species. The nests were low down at the foot of the cliffs, 

 under the fallen rocks, where the birds were easily caught with the hand while 

 sitting on their eggs. 



Dr. Heineken ("Edinburgh Journal of Science," October, 1829) refers probably to 

 this Petrel as found on the uninhabited islands near Madeira and Porto Santo. He 

 states that it first appears in February and March, begins to lay in June, hatches 

 out its young in July, and that none are seen after September until the following 

 spring. It is never seen in flocks, nor in the Bay, but keeps out to sea, and is in 

 a great measure nocturnal in its habits. 



