501 



and Barthelemy-Lapommeraye. Professor Barboza du Bocage states that on the Atlantic coasts 

 of Portugal it is more common than Th. pelagica ; but I have no record of its occurrence on the 

 coasts of Spain ; and its reported occurrence on the coasts of Italy and Sicily rests upon a mistake 

 of Schembri's. 



According to Loche a specimen was obtained on the coast of Algeria, and is now in the 

 Museum at Algiers; and Mr. Vernon Harcourt (P. Z. S. 1851, p. 146) states that it straggles to 

 Madeira. I find no instance on record of its occurrence in Eastern Europe. 



On the American side of the Atlantic it is stated by Professor Baird to be found from 

 Massachusetts as far as Baffin's Bay. I found it numerous off the coast of New Brunswick, in the 

 Bay of Fundy ; and Professor Baird states (Ibis, 1867, p. 292) that specimens now in the collection 

 of the Smithsonian Institution were killed about Washington in August 1842. It is found on the 

 Pacific coasts of North America ; and Mr. Dall writes (Trans. Chic. Ac, Sc. p. 303, Oct. 1869) 

 that it was " obtained abundantly by Bischoff at Sitka. The specimens were more rusty-coloured 

 than is usual with this species." Dr. L. von Schrenck obtained it off the Kurile Islands, and 

 writes (Vogel d. Amurl. p. 516) that he " can with certainty state that it is a regular inhabitant 

 of the Pacific. Mr. Wosnessenski repeatedly observed it off the Kurile Islands, and brought 

 home specimens obtained near the Island of Schumschu. The example we got was caught to 

 the south-east of the Kurile Islands, Ssimuschir and Urup, in about 45° 42' N. lat." He 

 further writes that the specimens obtained off the Kuriles agreed precisely with others from 

 the Atlantic. 



Like its near ally the Storm-Petrel, the present species is met with in all parts of the 

 ocean, even during the most tempestuous weatber, and follows in the wake of vessels to pick up 

 any fatty refuse that may be thrown overboard, or else to obtain some slight shelter in the wake 

 of the vessel from the violence of the elements. It glides as if walking on the surface of the 

 water over the heavy rolling waves of the ocean with ease and facility, and even in the most 

 tempestuous weather appears quite at home on the face of the deep. During the day-time it 

 moves silently over the water, following the outline of the waves, and now and then fluttering 

 over the surface as if walking on the water ; and only during the night is its cry heard. 



The only known breeding-place in Europe of the present species is St. Kilda, where 

 Sir William Milner and his brother, Mr. H. B. W. Milner, found it breeding in 1847. In an 

 account of their trip published in the 'Zoologist' for 1848, p. 2059, Sir W. Milner writes as 

 follows : — " Not far from the top of the cliff was a colony of the Forked-tailed Petrel, breeding 

 like the Stormy Petrel, under the stones and rock, about a yard apart. We were first attracted 

 to them by a low chirping noise, which from time to time the females made while sitting upon 

 their eggs. In one hole only did we find the male and female together. The egg is considerably 

 larger than that of the Stormy Petrel, and resembles it in being surrounded at the larger end by 

 a beautiful zone of red freckles. They are nearly three weeks before the Stormy Petrel in 

 depositing their eggs ; and in the localities where we found the Forked-tailed Petrel there was 

 not a single Stormy Petrel." In a letter just received from Mr. H. B. W. Milner, he writes as 

 follows : — " My brother, the late Sir W. Milner, and I visited St. Kilda in 1847 and found 

 Leach's Petrel breeding in some abundance in all the breeding-colonies. In each hole, at a 

 depth of from eighteen inches to three feet, we found one egg, some of which were slightly 



