374 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



most of them- asleep, with their heads buried under the 

 feathers of their backs, strongly resembling small round 

 balls as they floated about with their plumage puffed out 

 in the tideway. They were passed during the whole of 

 the day along the coast from Winterton to Lowestoft, 

 many hundreds being noticed. No forked- tailed petrels 

 were observed, though I carefully examined with the 

 glasses all that were within view, as we steamed slowly 

 past them. These poor little birds had evidently been 

 completely tired out by the long continuation of the 

 gale, and were now endeavouring to recruit their 

 strength by seeking repose on the placid surface of the 

 water." On the 20th " the stormy petrels, so numerous 

 close inshore two days previous, had now almost entirely 

 disappeared, and only two or three were noticed flitting 

 in an apparently worn-out condition outside the Cross 

 Sands." 



Writing of the storm petrel at Yarmouth, Mr. A. 

 Patterson tells me that twenty or thirty years ago this 

 bird used to be fairly frequenb off Yarmouth during the 

 herring season. At that time the fish was " ferried " 

 ashore and landed on the beach, and as it did not pay to 

 land the " offal," as is now done for manure, it was all 

 thrown overboard. This, of course, offered a great 

 attraction for both fish and fowl, which were both much 

 more frequent immediately off the shore at that time 

 than at present, and amongst them came the storm 

 petrels. "A worn out gunner," says Mr. Patterson, 

 "told me that he had seen what he described as a 

 ' body of petrels ' during the early winters, and that the 

 ' carriers ' used to trail soft roes (milts) of herrings 

 behind their boats, and the ravenous little creatures 

 would come right under the stern, and were knocked 

 down by osier wands carried for the purpose. What 

 induced this destruction I did not learn whether it 

 was merely love of slaughter, mere pastime, or whether 

 the game dealers offered any inducement, I cannot say, 

 but probably all three combined." 



There is at Northrepps an albino storm petrel, said 

 to have been killed at Yarmouth, and formerly in the 

 collection of the late Mr. Stephen Miller, at the sale of 

 whose birds it was purchased by Mr. Gurney. 



