676 LAHID^. 



in large flocks. Thus Messrs. C. and J. Paget, in their 

 Sketch of the Natural History of Yarmouth and its Neigh- 

 bourhood, mention, that in November, 1 824, between two 

 and three hundred were shot after severe gales. Some 

 years since, Mr. Gould exhibited twenty-four, in a large 

 dish, at one of the evening meetings of the Zoological 

 Society. In March, 1825, one bird of this species, while 

 flying about over the Thames between the bridges of 

 Blackfriars and Westminster, was shot from a coal-barge. 

 These small birds are frequently driven by strong winds 

 to great distances inland. Mr. Bicheno has recorded one 

 taken near Newbury, in Berkshire ; others have been taken 

 in Oxfordshire ; three or four are noticed as having been 

 caught in the streets of the town of Coventry ; and three 

 within a few miles of Birmingham. This species appears 

 also to breed freely at many different places around us, 

 generally small islands ; but is never observed to frequent 

 land except during the breeding-season. Among some 

 other notes recently referred to, Mr. D. W. Mitchell says, 

 " The Stormy Petrel also breeds at Scilly, and is, as far as 

 I know, confined to one locality, on the islet where the 

 Thames steamer ran ashore, in the extreme S.W. of the 

 group. It is the latest layer among the sea-fowl ; the first 

 egg I took was newly dropped in the second week of 

 June." Mr. Thompson mentions that this bird is at all 

 times to be met with on the coast of Ireland washed by 

 the Atlantic, and breeds on several of the islets ranging 

 from north to south of the western coast. Pennant found 

 them in August, 1772, on the rocks called Macdonald's 

 Table, off the north end of the Isle of Skye, and conjec- 

 tured they bred there. They lurked under loose stones, 

 but betrayed themselves by their twittering noise. Mr. 

 John Macgillivray, who visited the Hebrides in July, 

 1840, says, " The Stormy Petrel is abundant in St. Kilda. 



