A HISTORY OF DEVONSHIRE 



and its numbers are greatly increased. It 

 then frequents the estuaries, canals and leys 

 in the south of the county. It occasionally 

 visits Lundy Island. 



287. Storm-Petrel. 

 Linn. 



Pmcellaria pelagica, 



This small petrel generally keeps well out 

 at sea, and is rarely met with near the shore 

 except in the breeding season and after vio- 

 lent gales, especially in autumn and winter, 

 when examples are not unfrequently picked 

 up dead or in an exhausted state, even far in- 

 land and in the streets of the towns, having 

 been driven ashore by the violence of the 

 wind. Numbers are killed every winter by 

 flying against the lanterns of the lighthouses 

 on the south coast. A few pairs probably 

 breed on Lundy Island and, it is said, on the 

 Thatcher Rock in Torbay. 



288. Leach's Fork-tailed Petrel. Oceano- 



droma leucorrhoa (Vieillot) 

 A casual visitor during the autumn and 

 winter months, when individuals are driven 

 inland by violent south-westerly gales from 

 the Atlantic. It has occurred all along the 

 south coast of the county on numerous occa- 

 sions, and several times on the north coast. 



289. Wilson's Petrel. Oceanites oceanicus 



(Kuhl) 

 In some seasons this oceanic species comes 

 further north in the Atlantic than usual and 

 approaches the entrance to the English Chan- 

 nel. Rarely a bird is driven ashore by storms. 

 One or two examples have occurred on our 

 south coast ; one, said to have been obtained 

 at Sidmouth in December 1870, and one at 

 Exmouth 13 November 1887. 



290. Great Shearwater. Puffinus gravis 



(O'Reilly) 

 Locally, Hackbolt. 

 An irregular autumnal and winter visitor 

 from the Atlantic to the south coast of Devon, 

 sometimes in large numbers. It generally 

 keeps far out at sea, but early in November 

 1874 numbers were seen on the south coast 

 after an almost total disappearance for many 

 years. Mr. W. Eagle Clarke found it com- 

 mon in September and October 1901 about 

 the immense shoals of pilchards in the vicinity 

 of the Eddystone Lighthouse. The great 

 shearwater is sometimes taken with a baited 

 hook and line, and examples thus caught are 

 occasionally brought in by fishermen at 

 Plymouth and in Torbay. Now and then 

 individuals are captured in an exhausted con- 



dition. An adult bird was killed ofFPlymouth 

 at the end of July 1876, and Mr. E. A. S. 

 Elliot saw two large shearwaters in the 

 Channel off the south coast in July 1895. 



291. Sooty Shearwater. Puffinus griseus (J, F. 



Gmelin) 



Mr. J. H. Gurney saw a specimen of this 

 species in Mr. Gould's collection labelled 

 ' Plymouth,' which was sent to him by Mr. 

 Gatcombe, and other specimens seem to have 

 occurred in the same locality. Mr. E. A. S. 

 Elliot saw a sooty shearwater off Burrow 

 Island in Bigbury Bay in May 1900, and 

 Mr. W, Eagle Clarke saw single examples 

 about the Eddystone lighthouse on 23 Septem- 

 ber and 12, 14 and 19 October 1901. 



292. Manx Shearwater. Puffinus anglorum^ 



(Temminck) 

 Locally, Mackerel Cock (Torbay), Cuckle or 

 Cockle (Lundy Island). 

 This shearwater is believed to breed on 

 Lundy Island, where it is very numerous 

 in summer. It is often seen in the Chan- 

 nel off the south-west coast in March and 

 April in great abundance, and early in July 

 1895 Mr. Elliot saw hundreds feeding on 

 mackerel ' brit ' a few miles out at sea off 

 the Bolt Tail. The Manx shearwater fre- 

 quently visits Torbay in autumn in pursuit of 

 herrings and sprats, and is not uncommon 

 about the Eddystone. One was killed near 

 Kingsbridge in 1874, but this species very 

 rarely enters the estuaries. 



293. Levantine Shearwater. Puffinus yelkou- 



anus (Acerbi) 



Two examples of the Levantine shearwater 



are in the British Museum from Devon, and 



Mr. J. H. Gurney has another Devonshire 



specimen, according to Mr. Howard Saunders. 



294. Fulmar. Fulmarus glactalis (Linn.) 

 Locally, Mollymew, Mollymauk. 



The mollymew, so well known to sailors, 

 is only a waif and stray of the ocean in the 

 western counties, but occasionally in winter 

 an example in an exhausted condition wanders 

 to the south coast of Devon, where several 

 have been obtained, only one instance (an 

 immature bird, in bluish-grey plumage, at 

 Barnstaple) being known from north Devon. 

 This specimen had a bony tumour on the 

 neck, and one killed with an oar on the Exe 

 estuary had a calcareous concretion in the 

 vent. The last specimen that has occurred 

 was found dead at Thurlestone in November 

 1898. 



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