AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 259 



harboLU*. This species is not known to breed on the 

 east coast of England, but there are many Petrel- 

 warrens on the Scottish, Irish, and Welsh islands, 

 and some Storm-Petrels, to my personal knowledge, 

 breed, or used to breed, upon one or more of the 

 remote islands of Scilly ; as this is the only locality 

 in which I have found this bird at home, and as 

 we were too late for the eggs on the occasion of 

 our visit to Scilly, I will merely say that in almost 

 all respects the breeding-place examined there cor- 

 responded to the description of some of those of 

 the Porked-tailed Petrel and Manx Shearwater, as 

 described in my articles on those species. To those 

 specially interested in the breeding-habits of the 

 Storm-Petrel, I most strongly recommend the perusal 

 of the notes on this species given by the late 

 H. D. Graham in the ' Bkds of lona and Mull' 

 (Edinburgh, 1890). There is something weird and 

 strange, when at sea in a stiff breeze, to find the ship 

 suddenly surrounded or followed by these little 

 black birds, that seem to have sprung from the 

 water, their small size and swallow-like actions being 

 so entirely unlike those of what we landsmen 

 generally somewhat loosely term "Sea-Birds." I 

 never saw one of this species swimming, but they 

 frequently touch the water with their feet whilst 

 pausing for a few seconds to pick up food ; according 

 to Buffon, it is this habit that has gained for them 

 from English sailors the name of Petrel, after the 

 Apostle Peter, who attempted to walk upon the 

 water, but most of the seafaring men whom I have 

 met with knew them best as Mother Carey's Chickens. 

 Many authors are agreed as to the culinary excellence 

 of young Storm-Petrels. 



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