526 LARID^. 



served by the fowlers, and the bird allowed to escape. It is 

 only at sunset and about day-break that I have observed the 

 Stormy Petrel at sea, except during gloomy weather, save 

 once, while crossing the Minch, being then not far from one 

 of their breeding-places, at Dunvcgan Head, in the Isle of 

 Skye." 



Mr. Scarth, when in Orkney, caught one on her nest in a 

 small hole, and preserved her alive for three months in a 

 cage, feeding her by smearing her breast with oil, which she 

 sucked from the feathers, drawing each feather singly between 

 her mandibles. Mr. Hewitson, who made an excursion to 

 Shetland in search of rarities for his work on the EffSfs of 



Do 



British Birds, gives an interesting account of the habits of 

 this species at Foula, Papa, and Oxna. On the 31st of 

 May these birds had not arrived on the breeding-ground, 

 or, to use the phrase of the fishermen, had not yet come up 

 from the sea. Some eggs were deposited as late as the 

 30th of June. Each female lays but one, which is oval 

 and white, measuring one inch one line in length, by ten 

 lines in breadth. During the day the old birds remain 

 within their holes, and, when most other birds are gone 

 to rest, issue forth in great numbers, spreading themselves 

 far over the surface of the sea ; the fishermen then meet 

 with them very numerously, and, though they had not pre- 

 viously seen one, are sure to be surrounded by them upon 

 throwing pieces of fish overboard. Mr. Dunn found these 

 birds plentiful on the small islands near St. Margarefs Hope, 

 in Orkney, and among the small islands lying off Scalloway, 

 on the west side of the main land in Shetland ; and observes 

 that, though he had watched them for hours, he had never 

 seen one dive. 



The Storm Petrel is included by M. Nilsson in his Fauna 

 of Scandinavia ; it breeds on the Faroe islands and at Ice- 

 land. It roves over the greater part of the Atlantic, feeding 

 on small fishes, Crustacea, and mollusca to be found about 



