Ill 
LEAST PETREL.— MOTHER CAREY’S CHICKEN 
Thalassidroma pelagica, Linn . 
PLATE CCCCLXI. — Male and Female. 
In August, 1830, being becalmed on the banks of Newfoundland, I obtained 
several individuals of this species from a flock composed chiefly of Thalas- 
sidroma Leachii, and Th. Wilsoni. Their smaller size, and the more rapid 
motions of their wings, rendered them quite conspicuous, and suggested the 
idea of their i>eing a new species, although a closer inspection shewed them 
to belong to the present. In their general manners, while feeding, floating 
on the water, or rambling round the boat in which I went in pursuit of them, 
they did not differ materially from the other species. Their flight, however, 
was more hurried and irregular, and non,e of them uttered any note or cry, 
even when wounded and captured. I have been assured that this bird breeds 
on the sandy beaches of Sable Island on the coast of Nova Scotia ; but not 
having had an opportunity of visiting it, or any other breeding place, I here 
present you with Mr. Hewitson’s observations on this subject. 
“ In an excursion,” says this amiable and enterprising naturalist, through 
the Shetland Islands during the present summer, in search of rarities for 
this work, (the British Oology,) I had the very great satisfaction of seeing 
and taking many of these most interesting birds alive ; they breed in great 
numbers on several of the islands, principally upon Foula, the north of 
Hunst, and upon Papa, and Oxna, two small islands in the Bay of Scalloway ; 
the last of these I visited on the 31st of May in hopes of procuring their 
eggs (it being the season in which most of the sea-birds begin to lay) ; but 
in this I was disappointed ; the fishermen, who knew them well by the name 
of Swallows, assured me that my search would be quite useless, that they 
had not yet “ come up from sea,” and so it proved. Sixteen days after this 
(June 16th and three following days) I was at Foula, but was alike unsuc- 
cessful, the birds had arrived at their breeding places, but had not yet begun 
laying their eggs ; numbers of them were sitting in their holes, and were 
easily caught : one man brought me about a dozen tied up in an old stocking, 
two of which I kept alive in my room for nearly three days, and dei’ived 
very great pleasure from their company • during the day they were mostly 
inactive, and after pacing about th*e floor for a short time, poking their head 
