176 On the Ornithology oj Wilts [LaridcB]. 



which this is the more common species, may be distinguished from 

 their more honest peaceful brethren described above, by the for- 

 midable hooked beak, and strong hooked talons with which they 

 are armed. In these respects they resemble the raptorial birds 

 which stand at the head of our list. In habits too they are per- 

 secuting and exacting, for no sooner do they behold their quieter 

 congeners returning from their fishing excursions, than they give 

 instant chase, and do not desist from harassing their unofiending 

 fellows till they have compelled them to disgorge the fish they have 

 swallowed, and which they seize before it reaches the water, and 

 carry off in triumph. I have two instances of the occurrence of 

 this bird in Wiltshire, one which I saw in the hands of Mr. Withers, 

 taxidermist at Devizes, in December 1857, and which had just been 

 killed by Mr. Hooper of Lavington, and which Mr. Withers des- 

 cribed to me as the " Black Gull ; " and another of which the Eev, 

 George Powell wrote me an account, shot at Heytesbury in Sep- 

 September 1863 by Mr. O'Brien, son-in-law of Lord IIe3'tesbury, 

 while partridge shooting, and which proved to be a young 

 female. 



"Manx Shearwater." {Puffinns anglorum.) The Petrels are at 

 once recognizable by their peculiar beaks, which are very much 

 curved, arched, and hooked towards the point, and also furrowed 

 and indented, and furnished with tubular nostrils, through which 

 they can eject at will a quantity of oil, and for which latter valuable 

 article they are highly prized by the hardy natives of the Western 

 Isles of Scotland. They are true birds of the ocean, and I may 

 say birds of the storm ; for during the darkest nights and the most 

 tempestuous weather they may be descried following in the wake 

 of the ship in ease and comfort, skimming along the surface of the 

 water, and even resting in the greatest composure in the most tre- 

 mendous seas. Their principal food is fat or whatever animal 

 substance the)'- can find which is reducible to oil. The Manx 

 Shearwater, though rarely seen on the eastern, is abundant on the 

 western coasts of England ; but from its habit of passing the day 

 in the holes or burrows where it breeds, and onlj' sallying forth by 

 night, it is not very generally met with. I am aware of only one 



