Petrkls.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE. 



63 



The present species is found along the coasts of 

 North America, and is also common along the coasts 

 of Scotland and England ; it is rather abundant in 

 the Orkneys and Hebrides. Mr. Selby states that 

 it is to be seen upon the seas surrounding Great 

 Britain at all seasons of the year, but he doubts the 

 very extensive range some writers have assigned it, 

 other closely allied species having been mistaken 

 for it ; and in this view he is confirmed by Mr. 

 Gould, who, in a letter to the Zool. Soc, dated Van 

 Diemen's Land, May 10, 1839 (see ' Proceeds.' 1839), 

 relating some details relative to several oceanic 

 birds met with dunng his voyage, says, " Imme- 

 diately off the Land's End Wilson's storm-petrel 

 (Th. Wilsonii) was seen in abundance, and con- 

 tinued to accompany the ship throughout the bay. 

 The little storm-petrel (Th. pelagica) was also seen, 

 but in far less numbers ; both species disappeared 

 on approaching the latitude of Madeira, their place 

 there being occupied by another species, which I 



took to be Thai. Bulweri As I had every 



reason to expect, I found the Australian seas in- 

 habited by their own peculiar storm-petrels, four 

 distinct species of which I have already observed 

 since leaving the Cape." 



The flight of the petrel is very swift, and on wings 

 even more rapid than those of the swallow, it wheels 

 round the labouring ship, descends into the trough 

 of the waves, and mounts over their curling crests, 

 secure amidst the strife of waters ; often with wings 

 expanded is it seen to stand, as it were, on the sum- 

 mit of the billow and dip its bill into Ihe water, no 

 doubt in order to pick up some small crastaceous 

 animal : and again, on vigorous wings, it pursues its 

 way. Seldom does it settle on the waters to swim, 

 and it is totally incapable of diving, as many have 

 erroneously supposed. During a gale at sea the 

 petrel is all animation. 



" Tip and down, up and down, 

 P'rom tlie base of the wave to the billow's crown, 

 Amidst tlie flashing and feathery foam 

 The Stormy Petrel finds a home ; 

 A home, if such a place can be 

 For lier who lives on the wide, wide sea. 

 On the craggy ice. in the frozen air ; 

 And only seeketh her rocky lair 

 To warm her young and teach them spring 

 At once o'er tne waves on tlieir stormy wing." 



13. CoKNWALL. 



We agree with Mr. Selby that the great motives 

 which induce the petrel and other sea-birds to fol- 

 low a ship in its course, are the refuse which is 

 thrown from time to time overboard, and the abund- 

 ance of small marine insects, mollusks, &c., which 

 are brought within its reach by the action of the 

 vessel as it ploughs the briny waves. The stormy 

 petrel breeds in the northern and western isles of 

 Scotland, and on the rocky coast of Cornwall : it 

 incubates on a single egg (perhaps two eggs) of a 

 pure white, in the holes of rocks, in the burrows of 

 rats or rabbits, and under large stones. The female 

 utters a low purring noise while brooding over her 

 egg or young. The latter remains in its retreat for 

 some weeks, till fully feathered and capable of 

 flight, and during this time is fed by the parents 

 with oily matter ejected from their stomachs. 

 Though the petrel is seen out at sea, particularly 

 in gloomy weather, when the lowering clouds 

 threaten a storm, yet it is to a great degree noc- 

 turnal in its habits, especially during the time of in- 

 cubation and of rearing its young. Till evening sets 

 in it remains quiet in its retreat, and then sallies 

 forth, making a shrill whistling, as well as the 

 purring noise before alluded to. So oily is the 

 body of the petrel, that the inhabitants of the 

 Ferroe and other islands sometimes convert it into 

 a lamp by drawing a wick of cotton through the 

 body, which will continue to bum till the oil be 

 exhausted. 



The length of this species is about five and a half 

 inches ; the general colour is sooty black ; tail and 

 quills pure black ; a patch behind the thighs, and a 

 bar across the upper tail coverts, white ; a few of 

 the wing coverts and scapularies slightly edged with 

 white. Fig. 2043 displays the characters of the 

 Head and Feet of Thalassidroma. 



2044. — Wilson's Petrel 



TImlassidroma Wilsonii, Bonap.). This species, 

 which exceeds the preceding in size, measuring six 

 and a quarter inches, is, as we learn from Mr. Gould's 

 observations, abundant off the coast of Cornwall ; 

 it is common along the whole of America to Cape 

 Horn ; and particularly so on the coasts of Chili, 

 Brazil, and the United States. It is said by Tem- 

 minck to occur but rarely at the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and to show itself accidentally off the coasts 

 of Spain and in the Mediterranean. According to 

 Nuttall, this species breeds in great numbers on the 

 rocky shores of the Bahama and the Bermuda islands, 

 and along some parts of the coast of East Florida 

 and Cuba; and, on the authority of Audubon, on the 

 mud and sand islands off Cape Sable in Nova 

 Scotia, burrowing downwards from the surface to the 



depth of a foot or more. In other places they make 

 the holes and fissures of rocks their retreat. The 

 eggs are three and of translucent whiteness. The 

 habits of Wilson's Petrel are the same as those of its 

 tribe in general. 



" On the edge of soundings," says Nuttall 

 (' Manual'), " as the vessel loses sight of the head- 

 lands, flocks of these dark, swifl-flying, and ominou^ 

 birds begin to shoot around the vessel, and finally 

 take their station in her foaming wake. In this 

 situation, as humble dependants, they follow for 

 their pittance of fare, constantly and keenly watch- 

 ing the agitated surge for floating raollusca, and 

 are extremely gratified with any fat kind of animal 

 matter thrown overboard, which they instantly dis- 

 cover, however small the morsel, or mountainous 

 and foaming the raging wave on which it may hap- 

 pen to float. On making such discovery, they sud- 

 denly stop in their airy and swallow-like flight, and 

 whirl instantly down to the waters. Sometimes 

 nine or ten thus crowd together like a flock of 

 chickens scrambling for the same morsel ; at the 

 same time pattering on the water with their feet, as 

 if walking on the surface, they balance themselves 

 with gently fluttering and outspread wings, and 

 often dip down their heads to collect the sinking 

 object in pursuit. On other occasions, as if seeking 

 relief from their almost perpetual exercise of flight, 

 they jerk and hop widely over the water, rebound- 

 ing as their feet touch the surface with great agility 

 and alertness. There is something cheerful and 

 amusing in the sight of these little voyaging flocks 

 steadily following after the vessel so light and un- 

 concerned across the dreary ocean. Dtuing a gale 

 it is truly interesting to witness their intrepidity and 

 address. Unappalled by the storm that strikes terror 

 into the breast of the mariner, they are seen cours- 

 ing wildly and rapidly over the waves, descending 

 their sides, then mounting with the breaking surge 

 which threatens to burst over their heads, sweeping 

 through the hollow waves as in a sheltered valley, 

 and again mounting with the rising billow, they trip 

 and jerk sportively and securely on the roughest sea, 

 defying the horrors of the storm, and, like magic 

 beings, seem to take delight in braving overwhelming 

 dangei-s." 



2045.— The Blue Petrel 



(Prion vittatus). Procellaria vittata, and coerulea, 

 Gmelin ; Pachyptila vittata, Illiger. 



In this genus the bill is strong, stout, and wide, 

 and much depressed ; the upper mandible hooked ; 

 nostrils two short united tubes, the edges of the 

 mandible furnished internally with minute cartila- 

 ginous laminae ; a guttural pouch between the two 

 branches of the lower jaw ; wings long and pointed ; 

 a minute nail in the place of the hind-toe. The 

 tongue is thick ; the mouth dilatable. 



The Blue Petrel was first discovered by Forster. 

 During the voyage of the Coquille many were cap- 

 tured in 58" S. lat. The habits of this bird much 

 resemble those of the petrels and shearwaters. Mr. 

 Gould notices it among the troops of sea-fowl which 

 followed his vessel for some thousands of miles, and 

 of which he says, " Until I had ascertained that they 

 were nocturnal, it was a matter of surprise to me 

 how the birds which were seen around the vessel at 

 nightfall were to be observed crossing our wake at 

 daybreak on the following morning, the ship having 

 frequently run a distance of nearly one hundred 

 miles during the night." 



The total length of this species is about twelve 

 inches ; the upper surface is ashy blue ; a black 

 band cuts across the wings and tail-coverts : under 

 parts white. 



2046. — The Albatross 



{Diomedea exulans). In the genus Diomedea the 

 beak is large and powerful, with a concave sweep 

 from the base, and rising again towards the point, 

 which is boldly and abruptly hooked ; a furrow runs 

 on each side of the upper mandible from the base 

 to the cutting edge of the terminal hook : in these 

 lateral furrows are the nostrils, standing out in the 

 form of short tubes of horn directed obliquely up- 

 wards ; they are nearly basal and widely separated 

 from each other. Toes, three before, and webbed, 

 none behind. Wings extremely long and narrow. 



Several species of albatross are well known and 

 described, but none equal in size the great wander- 

 ing .albatross (Diomedea exulans), which often 

 weighs upwards of twenty pounds, and ordinarily 

 measures from ten to eleven feet, and sometimes 

 even fourteen feet, in the expanse of its wing. It is 

 not until the voyager passes the line, and enters 

 within the latitudes of the southern seas, that he finds 

 himself within the range of the albatross, which on 

 outspread wings sails around the vessel, or sweeps 

 over the surface in chase of the flying-fish, which 

 the bonito or albacore are impetuously pursuing be- 

 low. These birds are extremely voracious, they will 

 swallow a fish of four or five pounds weight ; they 

 feed also on mollusks, blubber, and the offal thrown 



overboard of vessels. The vast extent of wing 

 which the albatross possesses renders it a matter of 

 some difiiculty for this bird to raise itself from the 

 surface of the water on which it is reposing ; it has to 

 skim half flying, half running, for a considerable dis- 

 tance before it can fairly mount, but once on the 

 wing it sweeps majestically through the air on ex- 

 panded pinions, and wheels around in large circles, 

 watching the waters beneath ; suddenly it plunges 

 down amidst the billows, covered with their dashing 

 spray, and rises again ; and though " the stormy 

 winds may blow," makes its way as if unaffected by 

 the tempest. 



Though, as we have said, it is in the southern 

 hemisphere that the albatross abounds, yet it would 

 appear that the European coasts are occasionally 

 visited by this bird, and that in the northern lati- 

 tudes it is even abundant. Vast flocks of the alba- 

 tross are seen towards the end of June about 

 Behring's Straits, and Kamtschatka, frequenting 

 chiefly the inner sea, the Kurile Islands, and the 

 bay of Pentschinensi ; they are doubtless attracted 

 thither by the enormous shoals of fish, the migratory 

 movements of which they follow. The natives of 

 Kamtschatka catch these birds by means of a hook 

 attached to a cord, and baited with a fish, which they 

 greedily swallow : the intestines are blown, and 

 used as buoys for nets, and the long, hollow wing- 

 bones as tobacco-pipes ; the flesh is tough and 

 dry. 



Mr. G. Bennett, in his ' Wanderings,' gives an ad- 

 mirable account of the habits of the albatross, far 

 too long for insertion : " It is pleasing," he says, 

 " to ob.serve this superb bird sailing in the air in 

 graceful and elegant movements, seemingly excited 

 by some invisible power, for there is rarely any 

 movement of the wings seen, after the fii-st and fre- 

 quent impulses given, when the creature elevates 

 itself in the air; it rises and falls as if some 

 concealed power guided its various motions, without 

 any muscular exertion of its own ; and then descend- 

 ing, it sweeps close to the stein of the ship, as if it 

 were monarch of all it surveyed. It is from the 

 very little muscular exertion used by these birds, 

 that they are capable of sustaining such long flights 

 without repose." Captain Grey, in his Journal 

 (vol. i. p. 32), gives a nearly similar account of the 

 "lordly and graceful albatross," that holds "its ho- 

 liday in the stormy gale." 



Captain Carmichael (' Linn. Trans.' vol."xii.) found 

 the great albatross and three other species breeding 

 at Tristan d'Acunha ; the great albatross raises no 

 nest, but merely selects some slight concavity for the 

 reception of a single large white egg. It nourishes 

 its young by disgorging the oily contents of its sto- 

 mach, and when approached discharges through the 

 nostrils a deluge of fetid oily fluid on the intruder, 

 at the same time clattering with its beak ; otherwise 

 it makes no defence, and is so fearless as not even 

 to move out of the way for the passage of a party 

 of men ; and when pulled oft' the nest, will either 

 remain quietly by, or instantly return to its egg. 

 Some of the other species raise a nest of mud. 



The plumage of the great albatross is subject to 

 variation; the head, neck, back, and wings are ge- 

 nerally more or less tinged with grey ; the rest of 

 the plumage white ; the bill is pale horn colour with 

 a tinge of yellow; feet deep flesh colour. 



Family LARID^ (GULLS, TERNS, &c.). 



These are for the most part oceanic birds, distin 

 guislied by great powers of flight. They rest upon 

 the waters, and plunge amidst the curling waves 

 in pursuit of their prey, but do not dive. 



2047, 2048.— The Common Tern 



(Sterna Hirundo). Pierre Garin of the French ; 

 Fionco and Rondine di mare of the Italians; 

 Meerschwalbe of the Germans ; y Forwennol fwyaf, 

 and Yscraen of the ancient British ; Sea Swallow, 

 English. 



In the genus Sterna the bill is long, compressed 

 and pointed ; the wings are extremely elongated and 

 acuminate ; the three anterior toes are moderately 

 webbed, the hind-toe is free ; tail forked. 



Fig. 2049 represents the Head and Foot of Sterna. 



Formed for rapid and protracted flight, these birds 

 skim over the waves with extraordinary speed, 

 whence the English name sea-swallows, and that of 

 the French hirondelles de mer. 



The common tern is found in abundance along 

 our southern shores, and those of the adjacent parts 

 of the Continent, as well as of Asia and Africa ; ac- 

 cording both to M. Temminck and the Prince of 

 Musignano, it extends its range to the coasts of 

 North America. It flies in flocks, uttering a harsh 

 note, and often ascends creeks and rivei-s to a consi- 

 derable distance from the sea. Nothing can exceed 

 the address and suddenness with which this bird 

 darts upon such fish as approach the surface, preci- 

 pitating upon its unwary victims with unerring cer- 

 tainty, and rising again to pursue its course, as if 

 unchecked by the eft'ort. This species breeds upon 



