BUIiWER'S PETREL. 35 



the 8th of May, 1837 ; and which could not have heeu long 

 dead, as it admitted of being mounted as a good cabinet 

 specimen. It is now in the possession of Colonel Dalton, 

 who doubtless regards it as one of the greatest treasures in 

 British Ornitliology." In the ' Birds of Great Britain,' 

 however, Mr. Gould does not figure it, and in the Intro- 

 duction he merely says, " This bird, which inhabits 

 Madeira, sometimes visits our seas, and by Yarrell and 

 others has been included in our avifauna." The figure of 

 the bird here given is taken from Mr. Gould's plate, and 

 represents, therefore, the only authenticated British example 

 of this species at present known.* 



The home of Bulwer's Petrel appears to be the Atlantic 

 Ocean, especially the vicinity of the Canaries and Madeira. 

 The first published account of it is given by Jardine and Selby 

 (111. Orn. ii. pi. 65), who conferred on it the name of Pro- 

 cellaria bulweri, after Mr. Bulwer, for some time a resident 

 in Madeira, to whom they were indebted for the specimen 

 they described and figured. In 1841, we find it stated by 

 Webb, Berthelot, and Moquin-Tandon, in the ' Ornithologie 

 Canarienne,' that this species is very common on the small 

 island of Alegranza, w^here it breeds in holes in the rocks, 

 and is known by the name of ' perrito,' or ' little dog,' 

 from its cry. About the year 1850 Dr. Frere obtained a 

 considerable number of birds and eggs from the Desertas, 

 near Madeira ; Mr. Hurrell, in 1851, also took a good many 

 there ; and Mr. F. D. Godman gives (Ibis, 1872, p. 162) 

 the following account of his later visit to those rocky unin- 

 habited islands in 1871 : — 



" We 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 



* There is a report of a second occurrence which can hardly be considered 

 satisfactory. Mr. E. T. Higgins, writing from Penritli on the 23th of July, 

 1849, says, " By a letter received from Mr. Graham, the talented bird-stuffer of 

 York, I hear that a specimen of that exceedingly rare bird, Bulwer's Petrel 

 (Thalassidroma Bulwerii), was obtained at Scarborough during the spring" 

 Zool. p. 2o69). 



