182 PETREL. 



tail, dusky ash, plain; quills black; middle of the neck and breast, 

 and all beneath, white ; legs weak, whitish, compressed on the sides, 

 and dusky behind. Both sexes are nearly alike ; but the young are 

 much darker in plumage. 



This is found in the north of England, particularly in the 

 Calf of Man, and in the Orknies.* They resort to the first in 

 February, take a short possession of the rabbit burrows, and then 

 disappear till April, when they return ; lay one white egg, blunt at 

 each end : the young are fit to take the beginning of August, when 

 great numbers are killed by the person who farms the Isle ; these 

 are salted and barrelled, and after being boiled, eaten with potatoes; 

 during the day keep at sea, fishing, and towards the evening return 

 to their young, which they feed in the same manner as the Fulmar : 

 and generally quit the Isle by the end of August, or beginning of 

 September. In the Orknies they make the nest in holes in the 

 ground, near the shelves of the rocks, and headlands : are called 

 there the Lyre, and much valued, as well for the feathers, as for 

 their use as food, as in the Calf of Man ; the old ones, too, are 

 taken in March, but are then poor, and not so well tasted as the 

 young. They appear there first in February : are very numerous in 

 Denmark, Iceland, and Greenland, and no doubt in other parts far 

 north ; so plentiful in some years, that the whole surface of the sea 

 seems covered with them. It is called at Ferro, Skrabe, or Leeren ; 

 and in Norway, Skraap. The flight of this bird is almost close to 

 the surface of the water, in an undulating manner ; and it arises from 

 the water with great difficulty ; in the efforts the head preponderates 

 for some distance, the bill cutting the water as if it were for a time, 

 and hence probably it has obtained the name of the Shearwater. 



* Multitudes of the Lyre (Shearwater) breed in the cliffs about the lochs of Hemprig 

 and Waster. — Tour in Scotland, 1769, 4to. p. 199. 



