"6 British Birds, with their Nests and Eggs 



Petrels on North Rona : — " As soon as we landed, I made straight for the place 

 where the pilot said the Petrels bred. This turned out to be the spot where all 

 the ruins are situated, namely, pretty low down on the grassy slope near the 

 western end of the island. We were all soon at work hauling out large stones, 

 and scraping with our hands, guided by the strong musky odour which per- 

 vaded the inhabited burrows, which run through and through the thick walls 

 of the old buildings, the latter of which, mixed with earth and turf as they 

 were, afforded unequalled facilities to the birds for the purpose." 



With advancing autumn, the Fork-tailed Petrels quit their island homes 

 and wander across the stormy seas either singly or in company of their 

 fellows, pursuing their flight over the Atlantic rollers in search of the floating 

 shells, tiny fishes and minute crustaceans which appear to supply their chief 

 food. Turner remarks that the Eskimo name of this Petrel is " O ku ik," 

 and signifies " oil-eater." The natives of the North Pacific assert that this 

 bird skims the water for traces of oil which may have flowed from a wounded 

 seal or whale, and that large flocks of them will follow the floating carcase 

 of a seal for that purpose. The flight of this Petrel is extremely rapid, as 

 we should expect to be the case from the form of its long, slender wings. 

 It appears to be strong enough to weather the hurricanes of the Atlantic ; or, 

 rather, it probably adopts the custom common to many birds of the Petrel 

 family, in hurrying from before an approaching gale to some undisturbed area 

 of the ocean. Nevertheless, even the Fork-tailed Petrel is often overtaken by 

 misfortune, and compelled to battle wearily against the forces of the maddened 

 elements, until resistance becomes more and more difficult to sustain. On such 

 occasions the exhausted bird frequently seeks shelter upon the estuary waters of 

 the nearest coast. 



But even the shelter of a river-mouth often avails the harassed bird to a 

 very slight extent. I have watched the Fork-tailed Petrel when the bird has 

 been driven into shallow estuary waters as unlike as possible to its customary 

 path across fathomless depths of the ocean, and can vouch for the bravery 

 with which the tempest- driven waif has turned its head resolutely to head the 

 prevailing gale, until driven back, time after time, by the pressure of the 

 hurricane, the bird has at last abandoned its frail carcase to the aerial currents 

 by which it was rapidly borne inland. The Fork-tailed Petrel has occurred in 

 most parts of the British Islands. Sometimes its emaciated form is picked up 

 in some ploughed field in the Midlands ; sometimes it successfully crosses 

 England, only to dash against the lantern of some light-ship in the German 

 Ocean with fatal effect. This Petrel is of rarer occurrence upon the coasts of 



