136 
BIRDS. PALMIPIDES. Procellaeia, 
Assilag, Martin’s St Kilda, p. 63. Linn. Syst. i. 212. Penn. Brit. Zool. 
ii. 553. Temm., Orn. ii. 810. Charles Bonaparte., Journ. Acad. Sc. Phil. 
iii. pt. 2. p. 227* tab. viii. f. 1. — E., Stormfinch, Little Petril, Witch, 
Mother Cary’s Chicken ; JP, Cas gan Longwr ; A", Alamouti. — Resi- 
dent. 
Length 5^ inches. Bill black, half an inch in length ; tube of the nostrils 
short, sunk at the base. Feet black. Irides dusk}^ Plumage sooty-black ; the 
vent, each side, rump, and upper tail-covers, white ; the tips of the last, the 
tail, and primaries, deep black ; the greater wing-covers, and some of the se- 
condaries, tipped with white. Female similar. — Nest in holes in rocks, or 
earth. Eggs 2, white The young are of a lighter colour ; the feathers mar- 
gined with reddish-brown. — This species frequents the seas of Europe. 
Breeds at many places on the coast. FoIIoavs the track of vessels in stormy 
weather, picking up the greasy substances in the wake. According to the ob- 
servations of Mr Scarth, this bird makes a low purring noise in the breeding 
season. An individual, which he kept for some time in a cage, was support- 
ed by smearing the feathers of the breast Avith train oil, Avhich the bird after- 
wards sucked Avith its bill. When the oil was placed in a saucer in the cage, 
the bird dipped its breast feathers therein, and afterwards sucked the oil from 
them. — Lin. Trans, xiii. 618. 
SI 9. P. Bullocldi. Fork-tailed Petrel. — Tail forked, the 
wings, when closed, not extending beyond its tip ; length of the 
tarsus one inch. 
An undescribed Petrel, with a forked tail, taken at St Kilda in 1818, Bul- 
loch's Sale Cat. 8th day. No. 78. — P. Leachii, Temm. Orn. ii. 812. Bo- 
naparte., Journ. Acad, Phil. iii. pt. 2. p. 299. tab. ix — Inhabits St 
Kilda. 
Length 8 inches. Bill black, robust, upwards of |ths of an inch long ; the 
nasal tube eA’-en. Feet black. Plumage broAvnish-black, tinged with cine- 
reous ; the primaries and tail darkest ; vent, each side, and upper tail-covers, 
white with brown shafts ; wing-covers, some of the secondaries, and of the 
scapulars, gradually changing to dirty-Avhite at the tip. Female similar. — This 
species extends over the Atlantic, and is common on the American coast. It 
was first observed and discriminated by Mr Bullock, during a Amyage round 
the coast of Scotland in 1818, at St Kilda ; and the specimen which he brought 
from thence, was, at the sale of his collection, purchased for the British Mu- 
seum. At the latter place, M. Temminck had an opportunity of examining 
it, and proposed to Dr Leach to bestow on it the trivial name of “ Leachii.” 
When Dr Leach intimated this to me at the time, I remonstrated, but in 
vain, against his acceptance of a compliment to which he had no claim, and 
which he could retain only at the expense of another. Still entertaining the 
same views, I have ventured to alter the trivial name (as then proposed), in 
order to do an act of common justice to the individual who had energy to un- 
dertake a voyage of inquiry, and sagacity to distinguish the bird in question 
as an undescribed species. 
The figure given by Borlase (Hist. Corn. tab. xxix. 10.) appears, from the 
length of the tarsi, and the wings extending greatly beyond the tail, to have 
been the P. oceanica of Forster. It is not improbable that the P. Wilsoni of 
Bonaparte, a species common on the American coast, may occur occasionally 
on the shores of the Hebrides or west of Ireland. The black feet, having a 
large oblong yellow spot on the web, may serve as a distinguishing mark. 
