PROCELLARIID^. 401 



the feet seem to touch the water, presenting the appearance 

 of walking on the surface of the water." (' Provincial 

 Names of British Birds,' p. 211.) 



Storm-Petrel. Procellaria pelagka, Linn. 



[Mother Carj-'s Chicken, perhaps derived from Mater cara.'] 



Resident, but generally keeps well out at sea. Breeds occasionally on 

 Lundy Island (Trans. Devon. Assoc, viii. p. 308). It is rarely met with 

 near the shore except after violent gales, especially in autumn and winter, 

 when specimens are not unfrequently picked up dead, or in an exhausted 

 condition, even far inland, having been driven ashore by the force of the 

 wind. 



This, the smallest of the Petrels, is by far the commoner of our two 

 British species of Procellarla, and nests along the western side of the 

 kingdom from the Scilly Islands to the Hebrides. A few, perhaps, breed 

 on Lundy ; and some certainly do on Skomer, an island on the northern 

 side of the entrance to the Bristol Channel. The Storm-Petrel is a late 

 breeder, not depositing its single egg until the second or third week in 

 June, so that when we visited an old wall on the top of a cliff on Skomer 

 at the end of May we were too early to find the birds nesting in its holes 

 and chinks, although we detected about the masonry the unmistakable 

 Petrel scent which clings to c^^i of the true Petrels {Procellaria) and also 

 to those of the Fulmar for many years after they have been blown, as it 

 also does to their skins. Like all the Petrels, this species is so full of oil 

 that it is said the inhabitants of the Fioroe Islands, by merely passing a 

 wick through the bodies of the birds and lighting the end, supply them- 

 selves with light. Owing to its nocturnal habits the Storm-Petrel is very 

 seldom seen, and may nest at places on the cliffs of the mainland where 

 its presence is not suspected. 



Storm-Petrels are occasionally killed by flying against the Start Lighthouse (E. P. N., 

 MS. Notes). Dr. E. Moore says that " some are frequently caught in winter in 

 Plymouth Harbour by flying against the lanterns of the Breakwater Light Vessel ; " 

 and "that great numbers are killed every winter by flying against the lantern of the 

 Eddvstone Light. Five were caught alive June L^th, 18;5(), in Plymouth Sound" 

 (Trans. Plym. Inst. 183(), p. 330 ; Mag. Nat. Hist. 1837, p. 3«U). From the Migration 

 Reports of the British Association it would also appear that this species is commonly 

 captured at the Eddystone Lighthouse on November nights. " Twenty-one Storm- 

 Petrels were captured between and 12 I'.M. at the Eddystono on November 21at, 

 1880. They cuine to the lights in twos aud threes, striking the lantern very gently " 

 (Mr. Ainger). 



On August 10th, 1870, several were captured in au exiinusted state in Plymouth 

 Sound. The woatiier was fine with a nice breeze, but the day after it blew a gale 

 from tlio east accoinpanied by a tremendous thunderstorm. A very young specimen 

 was caught by a cat in the centre of Plymouth in October 1883. One was killed by a 

 IIiTring-Uull in tlio Great Western IJocks, I'lynunith, Juno 22nd, 188.'{. After a 

 heavy gale in October 18M(i some Storm-Pctrels wi-re driven inland near Pivmoutli, 

 and were mostly found dead, but one taken alivu lived in a cage for nearly a fortnight, 



2d 



