1 12 Notes on a Storm Pettel in Captivity.


believe that one has been kept alive. I kept it in a big box in

my museum, and during the day it was allowed free use of the

room. At the outset the difficulty was to get it to feed ; I tried

it on shredded fish, meat, and fish liver, and even tempted it with

oil floated in a bath which, however, it would not touch. Fish

liver in small pieces seemed the best food. Although it picked

up the fish liver in its bill it never ate any, always shaking it out;

it however ate it if it was pushed well into the gape, and thus it

was fed four or five times a day ; finally the feathers round the

bill got very clogged with oil, and at the end I believe it got

some oil in the windpipe, as it suddenly drooped and died. On

opening it I found still a fair amount of subcutaneous fat.


I may say at once that the picture in Saunders’ Manual is

a misleading one ; the Storm Petrel never stands at rest on the

webs, but on the whole length of its tarsus, in which position

also it frequently walks, or rather shuffles, the head and neck

being kept low ; as it gets up speed it gradually raises up on to

its webs, but in this position its balance is not good and the

wings are frequently raised, no doubt to maintain the balance

preparatory for flight. I clearly made out that there are two

methods of starting flight, the one by shuffling along on the

tarsi and then gradually getting up on to the webs and running

along with the wings beating rapidly, the other by rapidly beat¬

ing the wings vertically and sliding backwards on the ground

or progressing backwards if in water ; in the latter method, I

believe an opposing wind to be necessary to help the bird, and I

frequently saw it try to fly by this method when close to the

door, under which a considerable draught was blowing.


When in the water (of which it seemed to be very frigh¬

tened) the motion of the legs was very rapid and alternate, pro¬

gress however was not quick, and the swimming backwards, as I

thought preparatory to flight, was frequently noted ; the bird

occasionally drank water, and, when swimming, the body “ floats

high.” It never succeeded, while I had it, in raising itself from

the ground, but if dropped from a height of some 18 inches

would take wing and fly round the room with an uncertain

fluttering flight, the wing strokes being short and somewhat bat¬

like. However, another specimen I had took flight from the



