638 LARID.B. 



Fauna of Britain, from a fine specimen which was found on 

 the banks of the Ure, near Tanfield, in Yorkshire, on the 

 8th of May, 1887 ; and which could not have been long 

 dead, as it admitted of being mounted as a good cabinet 

 specimen. It is now in the possession of Colonel Dalton, 

 who doubtless regards it as one of the greatest treasures in 

 British Ornithology. In fact, with the exception of one or 

 two foreign examples, we do not recollect that we have 

 observed it among the numerous collections we have had 

 opportunities of examining. As it is stated to be an in- 

 habitant of Madeira and the adjacent islands, we may infer 

 that the seas bounding the western shores of Africa con- 

 stitute its true habitat." 



The figure of the bird here given is taken from Mr. 

 Gould's plate, and represents, therefore, the only British 

 example of this species at present known ; but a specimen 

 of this bird in the collection of the Zoological Society 

 enables me to give the following description and measure- 

 ments : The bill is black ; the irides nearly so ; the whole 

 of the plumage almost uniform sooty black, rather paler on 

 the edges of the great wing-coverts; tail rounded; legs 

 and toes dark reddish-brown, the interdigital membrance 

 dark brown. The whole length, from the point of the beak 

 dark brown. The whole length, from the point of the beak 

 to the end of the tail, ten inches and a half ; the wing, from 

 the anterior bend to the end of the longest quill-feather, 

 eight inches ; the bill is three-quarters of an inch in length 

 from the base ; the tarsus, and the middle toe, including 

 the claw, each one inch and one-sixteenth. 



There is reason to believe that this Petrel has been dis- 

 tinguished by the specific name columbina, in a History of 

 the Canary Islands. 



