THE STORM PETREL. 421 



of London" ! Whether or not this liint was taken advantage of, 

 later historians do not inform us. 



In a communication descriptive of a portion of the West of 

 Kerry, made by Mr. WilHam Andrews to the Natural History 

 Society of Dnblin, and published in ' Saunders^ s Newsletter^ of 

 November 9th, 1841, it is remarked — "In the month of August, 

 the islands [Blasquets] are deserted by the feathered tribe, with 

 the exception of the storm petrel {T. pclagica). This little bii-d 

 breeds there twice in the season — in the month of June and again 

 in August — laying but one egg each time of incubation. Num- 

 bers of them may easily be taken daring the day in holes under 

 rocks and in banks — the whistling of the yo"ung bird, or tlie 

 purring challenge of the old, betraying their retreat. I did not meet 

 with more than one young bird in each nest, several were scarcely 

 freed from the shell [no date is given]. The young birds are 

 singularly large and fnll in appearance, and contain an immensity 

 of oily matter, which renders it difficult to preserve a specimen. 

 The old birds, at the time they have their young, do not eject the 

 oil so generally as at other times on being captured ; although 

 strong and untiring on the wing, yet on the ground they appear 

 feeble, staggering, and resting on the tarsi. Placing several on 

 the ground, sheltered from the breeze, I found that they were 

 wholly unable to rise. They are named by the islanders, Gour- 

 clal." Mr. E. Chute, who has visited the large Skellig rock 

 twice or thrice in the breeding season, states that the stormy 

 petrel nidifies there. Since tJie lighthouse was erected, this bird 

 and the Manx shearwater have been the chief birds resorting to it 

 for that purpose. 



My notes bear witness as follows to the occurrence of the storm 

 petrel on the coast or inland, omitting for the present the indi- 

 viduals obtained after tlie great hurricane of January 1839. Pirst, 

 with respect to the north-east of the island : — Mr. Samuel Lyle 

 one day, either in the winter of 1829-30, or the following, when 

 out in a yawl for the pui'pose of wigeon-shootiug in Belfast Bay, 

 shot two of tliese birds — which he describes as flying like bats ; — 

 one was killed about a mile from the town, and the other as 



