750 BULWER S PETREL. 



holes in the rocks, and is known by the name of ' perrito,' or 'little 

 dog,' from its cry ; while Mr. Meade-Waldo describes it as fairly 

 common, and breeding on all the Canary Islands (Ibis, 1893, p. 207). 

 About the year 1850 Dr. Frere obtained a considerable number of 

 birds and eggs from the Desertas, near Madeira, where Mr. Hurrell 

 also took a good many in 1851 ; while Mr. F. D. Godman gives 

 (Ibis, 1872, p. 162) an interesting account of his visit to those islets in 

 187 1. Mr. Ogilvie Grant met with the bird on the Salvages, and 

 throughout Madeiran waters. Leaving the Atlantic, we find this bird 

 in the Hawaiian group, as well as in the Bonin and Volcano Islands, 

 far to the south of Japan, and it has been obtained near Amoy. 



Mr. Godman writes: — " W'e found plenty of Bulwer's Petrels 

 sitting on their eggs, which were in holes or under rocks, and usually 

 about as far in as one could reach with one's arm. They build no 

 nest, but lay their eggs on the bare rock. I did not find more than 

 one egg in each nest. I secured several birds and eggs, and kept 

 some of the former alive. It is curious to watch them crawling 

 along the ground ; for they cannot fly unless they get to the edge 

 of a rock ; they waddle along on their feet, and, when they come to 

 a steep place, use the sharp-pointed hook of their beaks to draw 

 themselves up wuth. They seem to dislike the light, and hide them- 

 selves under a rock or crawl into a hole as soon as possible ; I never 

 saw one of this species flying about in the daytime, though some of 

 the smaller ones are common enough." The egg is pure white : 

 measurements 17 by 1-2 in. 



The adult has the plumage almost uniformly brownish-black, paler 

 on the edges of the great wing-coverts ; tail much graduated and 

 cuneate ; bill black ; legs and toes reddish-brown, webs dusky. 

 Length 11 in., wing 8 in. It is a highly specialized form, with only 

 one near ally, Buhveria inacgillivrayi, from Fijian waters. 



Examples of the Petrel familiarly known as the Cape Pigeon 

 {^Daption capensis) are recorded by More from the neighbourhood 

 of Dublin on October 30th 1881, by the Rev. M. A. Mathew from 

 near Bournemouth (Zool. 1894, p. 396), and by Mr. Salter from 

 the Dovey in 1879 (Zool. 1895, p. 254). This species belongs 

 essentially to the southern hemisphere, and I am not aware that it 

 has ever been proved to follow ships across the equator ; but the 

 ease and frequency of its capture with hook and line are notorious, 

 and many birds have been carried hundreds and thousands of miles 

 before being liberated. I do not believe that this species has ever 

 wandered to the United Kingdom. 



