PETRELS. 253 



never found anything but oil mixed with sorrel in 

 the stomach. When taken in the hand the bird 

 usually throws up a drop of this oil, or squirts a 

 little from the nostrils, just as the larger Fork-tailed 

 Petrel will do. I have never heard the Stormy 

 Petrel utter a sound, except at the breeding 

 stations, where its note is a noisy twitter. It is 

 more or less gregarious at all times of the year, and 

 generally roams the sea in small scattered parties, 

 but its gatherings are most extensive at certain of 

 its breeding stations. 



It is a difficult matter to specify, with any degree 

 of exactness, the breeding stations of such a 

 secretive species as the Stormy Petrel. It may 

 breed for years in a place, and the fact never 

 become known. A specially interesting instance of 

 this has lately occurred within my own experience. 

 Lundy Island has long been thought to be the 

 most easterly breeding station of the Stormy Petrel 

 in England, but all the time, for aught we know to 

 the contrary, it has regularly nested on the Big 

 Rock in Tor Bay, where, during last season (1895), 

 a young bird was taken, and is now preserved in 

 the Torquay Natural History Society's Museum. 

 The egg had been taken here several years ago, 

 with the parent bird ; the latest nest owed its 

 discovery to the acuteness of a dog, attracted by 

 the strong smell emitted by this Petrel. Here then 

 was the Stormy Petrel breeding actually within 

 sight of my front windows, and I giving Lundy 



