J76 Allen's naturalist's library. 



Range in Great Britain. — A single specimen of Bulwer's Petrej 

 is in the Museum at York. It was picked up dead on the 

 banks of the Ure, near Tanfield, in Yorkshire, on the 8th of 

 May, 1837. 



Range outside the British Islands.— The present species in- 

 habits the temperate seas of the North AtLantic and North 

 Pacific oceans. It is plentiful off Madeira, the Canaries, and 

 the Salvages, but occurs again in the Sandwich Islands, in the 

 Pacific, and ranges as far north as the islands of the Japanese 

 seas. 



Habits. — Mr. Ogilvie-Grant thus describes the species in the 

 Salvage Islands : — " The brownish-black Bulwer's Petrel was 

 met with on Great Salvage. It is a common bird in the 

 Madeira and Canary seas. We were too early for its eggs, but 

 obtained four taken at the Lime Island, Porto Santo, and the 

 Desertas, in the month of June. Our men used to catch 

 numbers of this Petrel every night, and it was nothing for 

 Manuel or Francisco to produce half a dozen each out of their 

 shirts ; but, with the exception of a few which we kept as 

 specimens, the majority were allowed to escape. The call of 

 this bird is very fine, and was frequently heard at night, a 

 pleasant contrast to the harsh voices of the Great Shearwaters ; 

 it consists of four higher notes, and a lower, more prolonged 

 note ; the whole repeated several (usually three) times, and 

 uttered in a loud cheerful strain." 



Mr. F. D. Godman, who visited the Desertas in 1871, 

 writes : — " It is curious to watch these birds crawling along 

 the ground. 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, they use the sharp-pointed hook of their beaks 

 to draw themselves up with. They seem to dislike the light, 

 and hide themselves 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." 



Nest. — None. Mr. Godman found the birds sitting on their 

 eggs, which were in holes or under rocks, and usually about as 

 far in as he could reach with his arm. He says that these 

 Petrels build no nest, but lay their eggs on the bare rock. 



