LARID.E. 253 



same year, an example was taken on the beach 

 near Rottingdean, and brought alive to Mr. 

 Swaysland. The tips of the wings were worn off, 

 probably in its vain efforts to scramble up the 

 perpendicular chalk -cliff after it had alighted on 

 the shore. Although in a dying state, it evinced 

 a considerable degree of coolness and self-posses- 

 sion after its capture, disregarding the presence of 

 the spectators who surrounded it, and occasionally 

 pluming its wings with much care and attention. 

 In performing this operation it opened its beak 

 very wide, and causing the root of the quill to fall 

 into the angles of the mouth, it drew every por- 

 tion of the feather slowly through the closed man- 

 dibles. In addition to the examples recorded 

 above as having occurred near the coast, I am 

 enabled to state that a fork-tailed petrel was found 

 dead about the middle of last December (1849) in 

 the grounds of Mr. Hollist, of Lodsworth, who 

 obligingly forwarded the bird to me. This cir- 

 cumstance appears worthy of distinct notice, as 

 the spot where it was found is almost fifteen miles 

 in a straight line from the sea. 



STORM PETREL or MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKEN, 

 Thalassidroma pelagica. This bird has more 

 frequently than the last been picked up dead or 

 nearly so on the coast, and even many miles in the 

 interior. As the name would imply, it is seldom 



