534 
Order TURBINARES. 
Family PROCELLARIIDAS. 
STORM-PETREL. Procellaria pelagica (Linneus). 
Coloured Figures.—Gould, ‘ Birds of Great Britain,’ vol. v, pl. 
86; Dresser, ‘Birds of Europe,’ vol. viii, pl. 613, fig. 
1; Lilford, ‘Coloured Figures,’ vol. vi, pl. 53; Booth, 
‘Rough Notes,’ vol. ili, pl. 49. 
The Petrels are very hardy birds, oceanic by nature, and 
only coming to land during the breeding-season, or when 
blown inland by severe gales. The Storm-Petrel, the most 
diminutive of sea-birds, is well known in its pelagic haunts 
to mariners and naturalists of travel, while those who have 
opportunities of visiting the islands which stud the western 
sea-board of Scotland and Ireland may meet with hundreds 
assembled together during the nesting-season. 
Along the English coasts, however, this species is less 
plentiful, its distribution being restricted chiefly to the 
South-west, including Wales. Before May it is rare in 
British waters; in October old and young migrate south- 
ward, and during this movement lighthouses and lightships 
are frequently struck. A month later the seas and channels 
are deserted for the ocean-homes, though a few stragglers 
occur in midwinter, especially after boisterous weather, 
when they have been taken far inland. 
This species was formerly much commoner on the east 
coast of Hngland than it is at the present time. In the 
‘Zoologist’ for 1901, p. 300, Mr. Patterson describes how 
hundreds were caught in the neighbourhood of Yarmouth by 
fishermen, who knocked them down with osier wands as 
they followed the herring-milts trailed behind the boats on 
pieces of string. In November, 1824, between two and 
three hundred were shot after a severe gale. 
Flight.—The Storm-Petrel is chiefly crepuscular or noc- 
turnal in its habits, especially at the breeding-haunts. After 
