494 



October, 1828; and Professor Jeitteles records the capture of one in the Aloisthal, in Moravia, 

 in December 1863." I do not find any record of its occurrence off the Mediterranean coasts of 

 Asia Minor or North-east Africa; but Von Heuglin saw small flocks of Storm-Petrels at 

 Bab-el-Mandeb, which might have been the present species. In North-western Africa it 

 appears to be resident. Major Loche says that it breeds on various rocky islands on the 

 coast of Algeria, and adds that he has found its eggs from the beginning of May till September, 

 and young birds from the end of May to the early part of October. Dr. C. Bolle says (J. f. O. 

 1855) that it has only once been found on the Canaries ; and Mr. E. Vernon Harcourt states 

 (P. Z. S. 1851, p. 146) that it is "a straggler found in Madeira, but Mr. Godman did not obtain 

 it there." It has, however, occurred on the coasts of West Africa, as Mr. R. B. Sharpe (Ibis, 

 1872, p. 74) records one from Fantee ; and Mr. Gurney, in Andersson's ' Birds of Damara Land ' 

 (p. 351), says that it "is occasionally seen rather numerously at Walwich Bay, and is quite 

 common off the rest of the south-west coast of Africa." On the east coast of Africa Captain 

 Sperling met with it between the latitudes of Zambesi and Zanzibar, where, he says (Ibis, 1868, 

 p. 293), it replaces T. melanogaster. On the American continent it only occurs off the coasts of 

 the Atlantic, and does not appear to have been found breeding on that side of the Atlantic. 

 Bonaparte describes (Compt. Rend. Acad. Sc. 1854, xxxviii. p. 662) a Petrel from the Galapagos 

 under the name of Procellaria tethys, as differing from the present species in being smaller and 

 having the upper tail-coverts pure white and not tipped with black. 



The Storm-Petrel is strictly an oceanic bird, being usually met with far out at sea ; and 

 however far one is from shore one may be accompanied by one or two of these birds, which fly 

 round the stern, appearing to seek shelter from the storm in the lee of the vessel, and every now 

 and then picking up something off the surface of the water. I have often amused myself by 

 throwing out bits of biscuit or small pieces of fat, and watching them pick them up, which they 

 do very gracefully, hovering over the surface with upraised and extended wings, and with their 

 legs hanging down, the feet touching the water. They feed on any fatty substances, small 

 Crustacea, and any refuse they can pick up on the surface of the water, as well as minute fishes. 

 Macgillivray, speaking of the habits of this species, says that " in the open ocean they are met 

 with by day as well as by night ; but when breeding they are seen in the neighbourhood of their 

 haunts (that is, to the distance of twenty or more miles around) chiefly in the dusk and dawn, 

 and during the day remain concealed in their holes. Stormy weather does not prevent their 

 coming abroad ; nor are they less active during calms. When the waves are high and the wind 

 fierce, it is pleasant, even midst the noise of the storm and the heavings of the vessel, to watch 

 the little creatures as they advance against the gale, at the height of scarcely a foot above the 

 surface of the water, which they follow in all its undulations, mounting to the top of the wave, 

 there quivering in the blast, and making good their way by repeated strokes of their long narrow 

 wings, then sliding down the slope, resting a moment in the advancing mass of water, gliding up 

 its side, and again meeting on the summit the force of the rude wind that scatters abroad its 

 foam bells. I have seen them thus advancing, apparently with little labour ; and in such cases 

 less effort, I think, must be required than when they have to encounter a gale before it has 

 blown long enough to raise the waves, which afford it partial shelter. Their manner of flying is 

 similar to that of the smaller Gulls ; that is, they glide lightly along with extended wings, sailing 



