748 THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 



whilst in 1897 he found eggs as early as 3rd March. The birds, 

 owing to disturbance, built no fewer than nine nests, four of 

 which contained eggs. Mr. Riley Fortune tells me he has 

 found several nests near Harrogate built on branches of trees 

 which hung down to the water. 



Local names : — Dabchick (general), Didapper, Dipper, 

 Small Ducker (Allan MS., 1791) ; Tom Pudding (North and 

 West Ridings) ; Dobber {Zool. 1848, p. 2290) ; Tom Puffer and 

 Tom Pufhn, or Tom Poofin (North and East Ridings) ; Dipper 

 Duck (Central Ryedale), Peep o' Day (East Cottingwith,. 



STORM PETREL 

 Procellaria pelagica (L.). 



Winter visitant, not infrequent on the coast in stormy weather ; 

 sometimes found inland after very severe gales. 



The first published allusion to this bird in Yorkshire 

 occurs in the Rev. John Graves's " History of Cleveland " 

 (1808), where it is enumerated in the list of birds. 



Thomas Allis, in his Report, made in 1844, wrote : — 



Thalassidroma pelagica. — Storm Petrel — J. Heppenstall informs me 

 that one was found swimming in the river in a populous part of 

 Sheffield ; it flew up and settled on a house, where it was shot. It is 

 rare at Leeds ; rarely seen about Hebden Bridge ; one specimen was 

 shot at Keighley about four years since ; it is met with about Hudders- 

 field. A. Strickland has known considerable flights of this bird occa- 

 sionally, on the east coast, where many specimens have been procured, 

 but these visits are very uncertain, and seem entirely the effect of 

 accidental causes. 



This little wanderer is an autumn or winter visitant, 

 not uncommon in some years, but, being essentially a rover 

 of the deep sea, it is not often observed close to land, unless 

 in wild and stormy weather, when it is compelled to fly before 

 the gale and seek refuge from the storms which rage with 

 terrible frequency on our eastern seaboard. Arthur Strick- 



