THE FORK-TAILED PETREL. 417 



that was visible^ they appeared as numerous as from the canal 

 piers, whence they were particularly observed/' In June 1850, 

 my correspondent saw one off Kerry Head. On the 22nd of 

 August, the same year, two were noticed on wing above the canal 

 at Tralee, and one of them was obtained.^ 



In a communication to the ' Dublin Penny Journal ' for 1833- 

 34 (vol. ii. p. 283), a petrel, with a tail forked like a swallow's, 

 is described as breeding on rocky islets near Sline Head, Galway. 

 The account is full and circumstantial, and notliing in it op- 

 posed to what we might believe of this bird, except the descrip- 

 tion of the egg, viz., — "about the size of a starling's, and 

 speckled like the sparrow's :" a statement which is fatal to our 

 behef in the story, the Q^g of this petrel being pure white. 



It will be remarked, that of the few specimens noticed, four 

 were obtained about the same time, in the winter of 1831, in the 

 counties of Antrim, IDublin, and Tipperary : there had been a 

 severe storm before their capture ; and at the time of their occur- 

 rence here, many were procured in various parts of England. In 

 December 1834, again, we see that they were met with in different 

 quarters; as they were in December 1835, about Dublin and 

 Clonmel, after storms. Although some authors are not satisfied 

 on this point, there seems to me not the least doubt that these 

 petrels are driven inland by severe gales. 



One of these birds, which I have seen in the collection of the 

 Rev. G. Robinson of Tartaraghan, county Armagh, was killed 

 by striking against a lamp-post in the town of Plymouth. 



Little is kno"WTi of the fork-tailed petrel further than its being 

 met with in the European and American seas, and occasionally 

 obtained inland. Sir William Jardine, writing in 1843, remarked, 

 in reference to St. Kilda, — " We believe no other breeding- 

 station is now upon record."t 



Wilson's Petrel, Thalassidroma WiUoni, Bonap. — A specimen of 

 this bird was kindly presented to me, in August 1 840, by Mi-. Glen- 

 non, of Dublin, who behaved it to have been obtained in Ireland, but 



* Mr. R. D. Fitzgerald, jim., Tralee. t ' Brit. Birds,' vol. iv. p. 262. 



VOL. III. 2 E 



