PETRELS. 253 
never found anything but oil mixed with sorrel in 
the stomach, When taken in the hand the bird 
usually throws up a drop of this oil, or squirts a 
little from the nostrils, just as the larger Fork-tailed 
Petrel will do. I have never heard the Stormy 
Petrel utter a sound, except at the breeding 
stations, where its note is a noisy twitter. It is 
more or less gregarious at all times of the year, and 
generally roams the sea in small scattered parties, 
but its gatherings are most extensive at certain of 
its breeding stations. 
It is a difficult matter to specify, with any degree 
of exactness, the breeding stations of such a 
secretive species as the Stormy Petrel. It may 
breed for years in a place, and the fact never 
become known. Ai specially interesting instance of 
this has lately occurred within my own experience. 
Lundy Island has long been thought to be the 
most easterly breeding station of the Stormy Petrel 
in England, but all the time, for aught we know to 
the contrary, it has regularly nested on the Big 
Rock in Tor Bay, where, during last season (1895), 
-a young bird was taken, and is now preserved in 
the Torquay Natural History Society's Museum, 
The egg had been taken here several years ago, 
with the parent bird; the latest nest owed its 
discovery to the acuteness of a dog, attracted by 
the strong smell emitted by this Petrel. Here then 
was the Stormy Petrel breeding actually within 
sight of my front windows, and I giving Lundy 
