THE FORK-TAILED PETREL* 
417 
that was visible, they appeared as numerous as from the canal 
piers, whence they were particularly observed.” In June 1850, 
my correspondent saw one off Kerry Head. On the 22nd of 
August, the same year, two were noticed on wing above the canal 
at Tralee, and one of them was obtained.^ 
In a communication to the f Dublin Penny Journal ’ for 1833- 
34 (vol. ii. p. 283), a petrel, with a tail forked like a swallow’s, 
is described as breeding on rocky islets near Sline Plead, Galway. 
The account is full and circumstantial, and nothing in it op- 
posed to what we might believe of this bird, except the descrip- 
tion of the egg, viz., — -“ about the size of a starling’s, and 
speckled like the sparrow’s a statement which is fatal to our 
belief in the story, the egg of this petrel being pure white. 
It will be remarked, that of the few specimens noticed, four 
were obtained about the same time, in the winter of 1831, in the 
counties of Antrim, Dublin, and Tipperary : there had been a 
severe storm before their capture ; and at the time of their occur- 
rence here, many were procured in various parts of England. In 
December 1834, again, we see that they were met with in different 
quarters; as they were in December 1835, about Dublin and 
Clonmel, after storms. Although some authors are not satisfied 
on this point, there seems to me not the least doubt that these 
petrels are driven inland by severe gales. 
One of these birds, which I have seen in the collection of the 
Rev. G. Robinson of Tartaraghan, county Armagh, was killed 
by striking against a lamp-post in the town of Plymouth. 
Little is known of the fork-tailed petrel further than its being 
met with in the European and American seas, and occasionally 
obtained inland. Sir William Jardine, writing in 1843, remarked, 
in reference to St. Kilda,— a We believe no other breeding- 
station is now upon record.”! 
Wilson’s Petrel, Thalassidroma Wilsoni . , Bonap.— A specimen of 
this bird was kindly presented to me, in August 1840, by Mr. Glen- 
non, of Dublin, who believed it to have been obtained in Ireland, but 
* My. R. D. Fitzgerald, jun., Tralee. 
VOL. III. 2 E 
f Brit. Birds,’ vol. iv. p. 262. 
