534 



Order TURBINARES. 



Family PEOCELLAEIID^E. 

 STORM-PETREL. Procellaria pelagica (Linnasus) . 



Coloured Figures. Gould, ' Birds of Great Britain,' vol. v, pi. 

 86 ; Dresser, ' Birds of Europe,' vol. viii, pi. 613, tig. 

 1 ; Lilford, ' Coloured Figures,' vol. vi, pi. 53 ; Booth, 

 1 Bough Notes,' vol. iii, pi. 49. 



The Petrels are very hardy birds, oceanic by nature, and 

 only coming to land during the breeding-season, or when 

 blown inland by severe gales. The Storm-Petrel, the most 

 diminutive of sea-birds, is well known in its pelagic haunts 

 to mariners and naturalists of travel, while those who have 

 opportunities of visiting the islands which stud the western 

 sea-board of Scotland and Ireland may meet with hundreds 

 assembled together during the nesting-season. 



Along the English coasts, however, this species is less 

 plentiful, its distribution being restricted chiefly to the 

 South-west, including Wales. Before May it is rare in 

 British waters ; in October old and young migrate south- 

 ward, and during this movement lighthouses and lightships 

 are frequently struck. A month later the seas and channels 

 are deserted for the ocean-homes, though a few stragglers 

 occur in midwinter, especially after boisterous weather, 

 when they have been taken far inland. 



This species was formerly much commoner on the east 

 coast of England than it is at the present time. In the 

 ' Zoologist ' for 1901, p. 300, Mr. Patterson describes how 

 hundreds were caught in the neighbourhood of Yarmouth by 

 fishermen, who knocked them down with osier wands as 

 they followed the herring-milts trailed behind the boats on 

 pieces of string. In November, 18'24, between two and 

 three hundred were shot after a severe gale. 



Flight, The Storm-Petrel is chiefly crepuscular or noc- 

 turnal in its habits, especially at the breeding-haunts. After 



