vVILSON’S PETREL. 
ProceVaria Wilsoni , 
Thaiassidroma Wilsoni, 
Jenyns. 
Temminck. 
Procellaria. Procella —A Storm. 
Wilsoni — Of Wilson. 
This Petrel was first described as an European one by the 
Prince of Canino, Charles Lucien Buonaparte. One was ob¬ 
tained from the Azores or Western Islands; it is said to have 
also occurred on the coast of Spain. In America, it is seen 
on the coast of Florida, and is plentiful about Charleston, in 
the United States, and breeds in Nova Scotia; it is also 
common on the coasts of Chili and Brazil. It is stated by 
Meyer to have been found at the Cape of Good Hope, and 
on the coast of North Africa. 
Two specimens were captured in the British Channel by 
the captain of a ship. Another is said to have been taken 
at Salthouse, in Norfolk, some years since. One was found 
dead in a field near Polperro, in Cornwall, in the month of 
November, 1838. The occurrence of another was recorded by 
T. C. Heysham, Esq., of Carlisle; and one in Sussex, by Mr. 
F. Bond. 
‘Like the other Petrels, this species remains in or near its 
nest or burrow during the day, and goes in search of food 
on the approach of evening.’ 
The present, like some of the kindred kinds, follows in the 
wake of ships in stormy weather, either for the sake of what 
small shelter may there be afforded, or to pick up any chance 
morsels of food thrown overboard. 
Sailors, always, as it would seem, prone to superstition, deem 
Mother Cary’s bewitched Chickens to forerun a storm; ‘but,’ 
says Wilson, ‘as well might they curse the midnight light¬ 
house that, star-like, guides them on their watery way, or the 
