136 BIRDS. PALMIPIDES. Procellakia. 



Assilag, Martin's St Kilda, p. 63. Linn. Syst. i. 212. Penn. Brit. ZooL 

 ii. 553. Tetnm, Orn. ii. 810. Charles Bonaparte, Joum. Acad. Sc. Phil, 

 iii. pt. 2. p. 227. tab. viii. f. I — E, Stormfinch, Little Petril, Witch, 

 Mother Cary's Chicken ; W, Cas gan Longwr ; iV, Alamouti. — Resi- 

 dent. 

 Length 5^ inches. Bill black, half an inch in length; tube of the nostrils 

 short, sunk at the base. Feet black. Irides dusky. Plumage sooty-black ; the 

 vent, each side, rump, and upper tail-covers, white ; the tips of the last, the 

 tail, and primaries, deep black ; the greater wing-covers, and some of the se- 

 condaries, tipped with white. Female similar. — Nest in holes in rocks, or 

 earth. Eggs 2, white — The young are of a lighter colour : the feathers mar- 

 gined with reddish-brown. — This species frequents the seas of Europe, 

 Breeds at many places on the coast. Follows the track of vessels in stormy 

 weather, picking up the gi'easy substances in the wake. According to the ob- 

 servations of ]Mr Scarth, this bird makes a low purring noise in the breeding 

 season. An individual, which he kept for some time in a cage, was support- 

 ed by sinearing the feathers of the breast with train oil, which the bird after- 

 wards sucked with its bill. When the oil was placed in a saucer in the cage, 

 the bird dipped its breast feathers therein, and afterwards sucked the oil from 

 them. — Lin. Trans, xiii. 618. 



219. P. BullocMi. Fork-tailed Petrel. — Tail forked, the 

 wings, when closed, not extending beyond its tip ; length of the 

 tarsus one inch. 



An undescribed Petrel, with a forked tail, taken at St Kilda in 1813, Bul- 

 lock's Sale Cat. 8th day, No. 78 — P. Leachii, Temm. Orn. ii. 812. Bo- 

 naparte, Joum. Acad. Phil. iii. pt. 2. p. 299. tab. ix — Inhabits St 

 KUda. 

 Length 8 inches. Bill black, robust, upwards of fths of an inch long ; the 

 nasal tube even. Feet black. Plumage brownish-black, tinged with cine- 

 reous ; the primaries and tail darkest ; vent, each side, and ujjper tail-covers, 

 white with brown shafts ; wing-covers, some of the secondaries, and of the 

 scapulars, gradually changing to dirty -white at the tip. Female similar." — This 

 species extends over the Atlantic, and is common on the American coast. It 

 was first observed and discriminated by Mr Bullock, during a voyage round 

 the coast of Scotland in 1818, at St Kilda ; and the specimen which he brought 

 from thence, was, at the sale of his collection, purchased for the British Mu- 

 seum. At the latter place, M. Temminck had an opportunity of examining 

 it, and proposed to Dr Leach to bestow on it the trivial name of " Leachii." 

 When Dr Leach intimated this to me at the time, I remonstrated, but in 

 vain, against his acceptance of a compliment to which he had no clahu, and 

 which he could retain only at the expense of another. Still entertaining the 

 same views, I have ventured to alter the trivial name (as then proposed), in 

 order to do an act of common justice to the individual who had energy to un- 

 dertake a voyage of inquiry, and sagacity to distinguish the bird in question 

 as an undescribed species. 



The figure given by Borlase (Hist. Corn. tab. xxix. 10.) appears, from the 

 length ot the tarsi, and the wings extending greatly beyond the taU, to have 

 been the P. oceanica of Forster. It is not improbable that the P. Wilsoni of 

 Bonaparte, a species common on the American coast, may occur occasionally 

 on the shores of the Hebrides or west of Ireland. The black feet, having a 

 large oblong yellow spot on the web, may serve as a distinguishing mark. 



