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LEAST PETREL.— MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKEN. 



Thalassidroma pelagica, Linn. 

 PLATE CCCCLXI.— Male and Female. 



In August 1830, being becalmed on tbe banks of Newfoundland, I obtained 

 several individuals of this species from a flock composed chiefly of Thalas- 

 sidroma Leachii, and Th. TVilsoni. Their smaller size, and the more rapid 

 motions of their wings, rendered them quite conspicuous, and suggested the 

 idea of their being a new species, although a closer inspection shewed them 

 to belong to the present. In their general manners, while feeding, floating 

 on the water, or rambling round the boat in which I went in pursuit of them, 

 they did not differ materially from the other species. Their flight, however, 

 was more hurried and irregular, and none of them uttered any note or cry, 

 even when wounded and captured. I have been assured that this bird breeds 

 on the sandy beaches of Sable Island on the coast of Nova Scotia; but not 

 having had an opportunity of visiting it, or any other breeding place, I here 

 present you with Mr. Hewitson's observations on this subject. 



"In an excursion," says this amiable and enterprising naturalist, "through 

 the Shetland Islands during the present summer, in search of rarities for 

 this work, (the British Oology,) I had the very great satisfaction of seeing 

 and taking many of these most interesting birds alive; they breed in great 

 numbers on several of the islands, principally upon Foula, the north of 

 Hunst, and upon Papa, and Oxna, two small islands in the Bay of Scalloway; 

 the last of these I visited on the 31st of May in hopes of procuring their 

 eggs (it being the season in which most of the sea-birds begin to lay); but 

 in this I was disappointed; the fishermen, who knew them well by the name 

 of Swallows, assured me that my search would be quite useless, that they 

 had not yet "come up from sea," and so it proved. Sixteen days after this 

 (June 16th and three following days) I was at Foula, but was alike unsuc- 

 cessful, the birds had arrived at their breeding places, but had not yet begun 

 laying their eggs; numbers of them were sitting in their holes, and were 

 easily caught: one man brought me about a dozen tied up in an old stocking, 

 two of which I kept alive in my room for nearly three days, and derived 

 very great pleasure from their company; during the day they were mostly 

 inactive, and after pacing about the floor for a short time, poking their head 



