3698 Birds. 



old specimens may entirely disappear; if, however, the "cap" be per- 

 manent, 1 do not think the name would be inappropriate. 



I ought perhaps, before this time, to have rendered my acknow- 

 ledgments, in a more systematic manner than I have hitherto done, to 

 those distinguished naturalists who have assisted me in drawing up 

 this paper ; for I fear that its great length may perhaps tire some of 

 its readers before they find out that I am quite aware that little if any 

 of the merit it may possess is due to me ; but to interrupt, by any 

 expressions which might be deferred, a narrative, as it is already too 

 obscure, is not the way to make it clearer. Nothing that I can say 

 can add to the reputation which those gentlemen now possess, but I 

 am bound to return my very best thanks to Mr. Bartlett, Mr. Gould, 

 Mr. G. R. Gray, Mr. Gurney, and Mr. Yarrell, for the kind and able 

 manner in which they have guided me through (to use the happy ex- 

 pression of the latter author) " a field of search which is almost as 

 wide as the range of the petrels themselves." Last, though not least, 

 my thanks are due to my friend Mr. Newcome, who placed the bird 

 in my hands for the purpose of describing it here. 



Time will show what manner of an addition to British Ornithology 

 Procellaria haesitata may be : — whether a storm- driven straggler (as 

 probably Mr. Newcome's specimen was) ; — or one of those visitants 

 to which, in our ignorance of the causes of their wandering, we apply 

 the name of " accidental ; " — or again, a species of rare but periodical 

 occurrence : and considering its Atlantic range, and the possibility of 

 its being taken for a British bird, the appearance of which is by no 

 means generally well known, this last does not seem to me improba- 

 ble. But the subject once mentioned in the * Zoologist,' may safely 

 be left in the hands of its readers; and imperfect as I know this paper 

 to be, I only trust it may excite them still more to pay attention to 

 these interesting works of creation, which are to be found even if we 

 " take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of 

 the sea." 



Alfred Newton. 



Elveden, November 13, 1852. 



