242 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF 
Procellaira (Fulmarus) glacialis Linn. — Fulmar Petrel. 
Procellaria glacialis , Aud., Birds Amer. vii. 204 ; pi. 455. Lawrence, Gen. Rep. 
825. 
On the 19th of August, while at sea off Belle-Isle, many Fulmars weVe seen, 
mostly resting on the water in companies of about a dozen. They generally 
remained quiet until we approached within sixty or seventy yards, when they 
would all take flight. In rising from the water the wings are lifted high over 
the back, the feet drawn under the belly, and with one vigorous spring and a 
flap at the same instant, the bird launches itself into the air. Its flight is 
extremely firm, vigorous and protracted, performed with slow measured beats. 
One individual was overtaken by our vessel, so loaded with food as to be un- 
able to fly ; it passed close by the side swimming as fast as possible, near 
enough to enable me to clearly discern the peculiar character of the nostrils 
which distinguishes this family of birds. 
Thalassidroma (Oceanites) Wilsoni Bon. — Wilson’s Stormy Petrel. i: Mother 
Carey’s Chickens.” 
Thalassidroma Wilsoni, Aud., Birds Amer. vii, 223 ; pi. 460. Lawrence, Gen. 
Rep. 831. 
Many of these little oceanic wanderers, and probably also the Thai. Leachii , 
and pelagica , were seen every day during our voyage, until we entered the Gulf 
of St, Lawrence. After that few were observed, and none at all seen off the 
coast of Labrador. They probably breed along the coast of Nova Scotia. They 
are very familiar unsuspicious little birds, fluttering hither and thither close 
around a vessel to pick up the bits of floating garbage which forms their favor- 
ite food, and never showing the slightest fear. When about to pick up any 
floating substance, they raise the wings high over the back, flapping them 
lightly, and stretch the feet downwards to their fullest extent ; the moment 
they touch the water, the morsel is secured, and the bird is off again in an in- 
stant. This attitude is represented to the life in Audubon’s beautiful plate of 
the Least Petrel. Their flight is light, graceful and buoyant in the extreme, 
and their power of remaining long at a time on the wing is unsurpassed. 
Three or four are generally seen at a time, though when pressed by hunger 
they sometimes collect in great numbers about a vessel, eagerly searching for 
food. On one occasion, about dusk in the evening, we came upon a company 
of about thirty of them, collected together in a compact flock, sporting high in 
the air with most graceful movements, like so many swallows over a pond. 
What had attracted them I could not ascertain. These birds may be caught by 
means of a hook baited with a morsel of pork; but such is the antipathy of 
sailors to destroying them, that they are seldom molested. I am informed by 
my friend, Dr. H. Bryant, of Boston, that he has caught them by allowing a 
long filament of silk to float in the air behind a sailing vessel, with which the 
wings of the birds become entangled as they flutter against it. All three spe- 
cies of Petrels are universally known as “ Mother Carey’s Chickens.” 
Puffinus (Ardenna) major (Faber) Bon. — Greater Shearwater. “ Hagden.” 
Puffinus cinereus , Aud., Birds Amer. vii. 212, pi. 456. 
Puffinus ( Ardema ) major , Lawrence, Gen. Rep. 833. 
Many Shearwaters were seen at different times during the voyage, generally 
singly, and always at a distance from land. They appeared to be shy and un- 
familiar birds, none approaching near enough to enable me positively to deter- 
mine the species, whether P. major or anglorum , though from their size I should 
suppose the former. On the 19th of August many were seen resting on the 
water in companies, in the manner of the Fulmars, Procellaria glacialis, to which 
they are nearly allied, both in form and general manners. Both species are 
known to sailors and fishermen as “ Hagdens.” 
