552 



kept several of these Petrels, which we brought from Alegranza, alive for several days. They 

 were very fat, and lived some time without food." 



Mr. F. DuCane Godman writes (Ibis, 1872, p. 223) : — I found the present species breeding 

 in considerable numbers on the small Deserta. It appears so nocturnal in its habits that I 

 never once saw it flying about in the day-time, though there were plenty of another, smaller 

 species. The nests I found were for the most part low down at the foot of the cliffs, under 

 the fallen rocks, where the birds were easily caught with the hand while sitting on their 

 eggs." Mr. Edward Newton states (Ibis, 1859, p. 372) that near the harbour of Christiansted, 

 St. Croix, he saw some Petrels which he believes to have been Bulwer's Petrels, but he was 

 unable to procure one so as to convince himself on the subject. Otherwise I do not find 

 Bulwer's Petrel recorded from other parts of the Atlantic than those above given, except that 

 Schlegel says he possesses a specimen from Greenland; and its range seems altogether to be 

 very small. Another tolerably closely allied species, Bulweria macgillivrayi (G. R. Gray), 

 inhabits the Feejee Islands, and is stated to differ from the present species in lacking the brown 

 on the wings, and in having a larger bill. 



Professor Newton sends me the following notes: — "In or before 1850, Dr. Frere learned 

 from a friend (the late Mr. T. Vernon Wollaston, if I am not mistaken) that four or five species 

 of Procellariidae frequented the Dezertas and bred there. Dr. Frere immediately took steps to 

 obtain examples of these birds and their eggs, and towards the end of the summer of 1850 

 received from Madeira a consignment consisting of the skins and eggs of what in those days we 

 used to call Puffinus major, P. obscurns, Thalassidroma leachi, and T. bulweri. There could be 

 no doubt whatever about the last ; for Dr. Frere's friend took some of the eggs himself, kicking 

 the bird off them. The next year he had a still larger collection sent ; and, if I remember right, 

 more followed. The Doctor was extremely liberal in distributing his booty ; and I among others 

 shared his bounty, and now possess several eggs and a skin of Bulwer's Petrel thus obtained. 

 The former are of a pure white, and measure from 1-59 to 1*76 inch by from 1T7 to 1*23 inch." 

 "Dr. Heineken has described in the 'Edinburgh Journal of Science' for October 1829 

 (new series, i. p. 231), under the name of Procellaria anjinho, a species of Petrel which he 

 observed on ten uninhabited and unfrequented islands near Madeira and Porto Santo. This would 

 appear greatly to resemble the P. bulweri of Jardine and Selby ; but it is said to have the ' tail 

 slightly forked,' whereas the tail in the latter is wedge-shaped; and Jardine (ut supra) states 

 that ' it certainly cannot be referred ' to that species, and ' must, therefore, stand as new.' 

 Notwithstanding this, the authors of the ' Oruithologie Canarienne ' quote Heineken's name and 

 description of the habits of his bird as referring to their P. columbina, which last is admittedly 

 identical with the P. bulweri of Jardine and Selby. No bird absolutely answering to the 

 description of Heineken has since been recognized by ornithologists; and it w T ould therefore 

 seem as though this author may have been in error as to the form of the tail in his species, or 

 else that there is a second species inhabiting the Madeiras which has not been met with since 

 Heineken's time. His specific name anjinho (pronounced as though spelt An-ji-gno in Italian) 

 is the Portuguese word meaning ' little angel,' but figuratively, perhaps, ' imp ;' for, as he 

 remarks, ' there is certainly more of darkness than of light both in its hue and habits.' He 

 says it appears first in February or March, and begins to lay early in June. The young are 



