ANSERES. 



89 



Prion. Lacep. 



Bill as long as llie liend, broad at the base, the upper mandible furnished near its 

 with laminated serrafions. 



143. Prion ttirtur. 



Soland. 



Dove-Petrel. Whieoia. 



Above, light-ash ; over the eye, white ; below, white : slioulders and tip of the fail, 

 brownish-black ; eliin, feathered. 



L., 9-5 ; W., 6-75 ; B., 1 ; T., 1 ; width of hill, -35. 



" This cliarming little Petrel is extremely abundant off our coasts, 

 and I have often oliserved flocks of them on the wing together num- 

 bering many hundreds. In boisterous weather it appears to suffer 

 more than any other oceanic species from the fury of the tempest, 

 and the sea-beach is sometimes found literally strewn with the bodies 

 of the dead and dying. I have frequently watched them battling, as 

 it were, with the storm, till at length, unable longer to keep to wind- 

 Avard, they have been mercilessly borne down upon the sands, and, 

 being unable, from sheer exhaustion, to rise on the wing again, have 

 been beaten to death by the rolling surf or pounced upon and 

 devoured by a hovering Sea-Gull. On picking them up and placing 

 them in the pocket of my overcoat, they have soon revived, and in 

 some instances have lived for several days on a diet of fresh meat, 

 minced into small pieces. From the inerease'd activity they always 

 manifested on the approach of night, seeking the darker corners of 

 the room and fluttering about in a very excited manner, with a rapid 

 twittering note, I conclude that, whether at sea or on land, this 

 Petrel is more nocturnal than diurnal in its habits. During the day 

 the eyes were always half closed, imparting a peculiar fretful expres- 

 sion to the face. One circumstance interested me much, as illus- 

 trating the force of habit. On taking up one of these birds and 

 inserting its bill in a glass of water, it at once commenced to move 

 its feet, as if in the act of swimming or treading the waves. I 

 repeated the experiment many times, and always with the same 

 result." — BuLLER, 



