60 Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



This table shows how the petrels seemed to appear in waves, 

 never remaining in the Upper Bay for much more than a week; 

 and this fact suggests the question as to cause. Heavy weather 

 is frequently given as the reason, though we have seen " Mother 

 Carey's chickens " in the Upper Bay when a fog was the only 

 indication of a possible storm outside the Hook; but the case of 

 August 24 is significant. The two previous nights had, as I 

 remember, been very stormy, and it was still drizzling on the 

 morning of the twenty- fourth. As already stated, Wilson's 

 petrels were very common in the Lower Bay on that date, and 

 were seen even at Princes Bay, where Mr. Isaac Wort was 

 camping on the beach. In the afternoon, however, the sky 

 cleared; and the next morning Mr. Wort saw but two or three 

 petrels, while I, during a long walk along the beach in the after- 

 noon, noticed none at all. 



In conclusion I may add that Mr. Aimer Decker, of Totten- 

 ville, who has had a very long acquaintance with our Lower 



