506 



by Yarrell to have been obtained in Norfolk in the spring of 1839 ; but Mr. Stevenson is doubtful 

 as to the accuracy of this record; Mr. Hele states that one was procured near Aldeburgh, in 

 Suffolk, some years previous to 1871 ; Mr. Marsh records the occurrence of one on the Avon, 

 Sutton Benger, Wilts, in November 1849 ; and Yarrell, on the authority of Heysham, records 

 one from Cumberland. In Scotland it does not appear to have been met with ; but Thompson 

 writes (B. of Irel. iii. p. 417) that one was presented to him in August 1840 by Mr. Glennon, of 

 Dublin, who believed it to have been obtained in Ireland. There is, however, no evidence to 

 show that this specimen was really procured there, and it cannot well be included in the Irish 

 list. It has been met with elsewhere to the east of Great Britain, and seems rarely to pass 

 along the British Channel. Messrs. Degland and Gerbe write that it has been seen off the 

 coasts of Languedoc, and that Mr. Hardy received two in the flesh in December 1854, which 

 were captured by a ship-captain in the Gulf of Gascony. According to Dr. Jaubert, in his notes 

 on Degland's ' Ornithologie Europeenne,' one was caught on the coast of Provence ; and MM. 

 Degland and Gerbe add that it has been more frequently captured off the coasts of Spain ; but 

 neither Lord Lilford, Colonel Irby, nor Mr. Howard Saunders include it in their lists of birds 

 found in Spain ; nor does Professor Barboza du Bocage do so in his list of the birds of Portugal. 

 It has, however, been met with in the Mediterranean as far east as Sardinia ; for Count 

 Salvadori states that Cara assured him that a specimen was obtained near Cagliari, and was 

 sent to the museum of that town, where it was at first in error supposed to be a common 

 Storm-Petrel. 



Off the African coast it has been recorded from various parts ; and Mr. Godman, who met 

 with it near the Azores, writes (Nat. Hist. Azor. p. 40) as follows : — " On returning from Flores 

 to Fayal we were becalmed for some hours ; and as there were a good many Petrels flying about, 

 I took the boat belonging to the schooner and shot some. They were all of this species, nor 

 did I see any other in the archipelago. In flying they carry their legs stretched straight out 

 behind them, and their feet protruded about an inch beyond the tail, producing the effect of two 

 long feathers. I know nothing about this species breeding in the archipelago, though I suspect 

 it does, as it remains throughout the year." It has not, however, so far as I can ascertain, been 

 met with in the Canaries, though it occurs off the African coast to the south of this group. 

 Governor Ussher obtained it near Cape-Coast Castle ; it has also been recorded from Old 

 Calabar ; and Andersson (B. of Damara Land, p. 351) says : — " This bird is not unfrequently 

 met with off the south-west coast of Africa, as well as in many of the bays and inlets. I have 

 occasionally seen it very abundant about the fisheries at Walwich Bay and Sandwich Harbour, 

 where these birds would approach within a few feet of the fishermen, eagerly picking up the 

 smaller particles of refuse thrown away by them whilst cleansing their fish on the shore." 

 Mr. E. L. Layard (who describes it in his B. of S. Afr. p 359) writes that his description was 

 taken from a specimen killed in Table Bay on the 29th of April, 1865, " by my son, who informs 

 me that he saw several more of the same species. I procured several specimens off LAgulhas 

 Bank in 1856, since which time, until my son found it in Table Bay, I had not seen them on 

 the coast. 



" In habits they resemble Thalassidroma leucogaster, with which they freely consort, flitting 

 over the waves and picking up odd bits flung over the ships' sides. When taken in the hand 



