>;\v\seuin of » -%: \ 1869 THE LIBRARY BRITISH BIRDS. VOL. IV. A HISTOKY BEITISH BIEDS. WILLIAM YAIiRELL, Y.P.L.S., F.Z.S. FOURTH EDITION, IX FOUR VOLUMES. ILLUSTRATED BY 564 WOOD-ENGRAVINGS. VOL. IV, REVISED AND ENLARGED BY HOWARD SAUNDERS, F.L.S., F.Z.S., Etc. LONDON : JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW. MDCCCLXXXIV. MDCCCI.XXXV. LONDON : PRINTED B? WOODFALL AND KINDER, MILFORD LANE, STRAND, W.C. ■-7 CONTENTS OF VOL. IV. TUBINARES. Procellariid^. Fulmar us glacialii^. Fulmai* Petrel QJJstrelata hcesitata. Capped Petrel Puffinus major. Great Shearwater ,, griseus. Sooty Shearwater ,, anglorum. Manx Shearwater ,, ohscurtis. Dusky Shearwater Bulweria colomhina. Bulwer's Petrel Cytnochorea leucorrhoa. Forked-tailed Petrel Prorellaria pelagica. Storm Petrel PAGE 1 12 17 21 27 34 37 42 OcEANrnDj':. Oceanites oceanica. Wilson's Petrel . 48 PYGOPODES. Alcidj5. Alca torcla. Razor-bill „ imjpennis. Great Auk Uria troile. Common Guillemot ,, hruennichi. Briinnich's Guillemot ,, grylle. Black Guillemot Mergulus aJIe. Little Auk . Fratercula arctica. Puffin . 55 61 69 81 85 90 CONTENTS. PYGUViJDKH—coii/i/utrJ. COTAMP.IU.K. CoJi/mhils (/Jacialis. Great Northern Diver „ arctictis. Black-throated Diver . ,, septentrional is. Eed-throated Diver PAGE 96 105 112 PODICtPEDIDjE. Podiceps cristatus. Great Crested Grebe ,, griseirjena. Red-necked Grebe ,, auritus. Sclavonian Grebe . „ nigricollis. Eared Grebe ,, -fluviatilift. Little Grebe 117 124 128 133 137 STEGANOPODES, PKLECANIDiE. Phalacrocorax carho. Common Cormorant ,, graculns. Shag . Sn^lii haf^aana. Gannet .... 143 151 155 HERODION'ES. Ardeid>«. Ardea cinerea Common Heron purpurea. Purple Heron alha. Great White Heron garzetta. Little Egret huhulcus. Bu£f-backed Heron ralloides. Squacco Heron Nycticorax grisens. Night- Heron Arietta niinuta. Little Bittern Botaurus stellaris. Common Bittern . ,, lentiginosus . American Bittern 162 172 177 182 187 191 195 200 206 213 CONTENTS. BEROBlO'NEii—cotdinued. ClCONlIDiK. Ciconia alba. White Stork ,, nigra. Black Stork Ibididjc. Plegadis falcinelluis. Glossy Ibis Plataleid^. Flatalea leucorodia. White Sjjooiibill PAGE 219 225 231 237 ODONTOGLOSS^. PnCENICOFrERIDiE. Plicenicopterus roseiis. Flamingo 244 ANSERES. Anatid^. Anser cinerens. Grey Lag Goose ,, albifrons. White-fronted Goose ,, serjetum. Bean Goose ,, hrachyrhynchus. Pink-footed Goose Chen liyperhoreus. Snow Goose Beruicla ruficollis. Red-breasted Goose . ,, leucopsis. Bernacle Goose . ,, hrenta. Brent Goose . ,, canadensis. Canada Goose . Chenalopcx cecjyptiaca. Egyptian Goose riectropterus gaiiibeasL'i. Spur-winged Goose Cygnus musicus. Whooper ,, bewiclci. Bewick's Swan ,, olor. Mute Swan .... ,, . iitniiufahilis. Polisli Swan 253 261 265 270 275 281 286 290 295 300 304 308 315 324 340 CONTENTS. ANSERES— con i!i«(tefZ. Anatid^ — continued. Tadonia casarca. Ruddy Sheld-Duck „ corauta. Common Sheld-Duck Anas boscas. Mallard „ strepera. Gadwall . S])atula clypeata. Shovellei- Dafila acuta. Pintail Duck Querquedula crecca. Teal . ,, circia. Garganey Mareca penelope. Wigeon . „ americana. American Wigeon Fuligula rufina. Red-crested Pocliard Pochard Ferruginous Duck Scaup Duck . Tufted Duck Golden-eye „ ferina. ,, nyroca. „ marila. „ cristata. Glangula glaucion. ,, alheola. Buffel-headed Duck Harelda glacialis. Long-tailed Duck Cosmonetta histrionica. Harlequin Duck Somateria mollissima. Eider Duck . ,, spectahilis. King Eider ,, stelleri. Steller's Eider QJdeniia tiigra. Common Scoter „ fusca. Velvet Scoter . ,, perspicillata. Surf Scoter . Mergus merganser. Goosander . ,, serrator. Red-breasted Merganser ,, albellus. Smew ,, cucidlatus. Hooded Merganser PAGE 347 352 368 370 375 380 387 393 397 403 407 413 418 423 430 435 442 446 452 457 463 468 472 476 481 488 494 499 609 BRITISH BIRDS. TVBINARES. PROOELLARIID^. ERRATA TO VOL. IV. PAGE LINE 3, 28, /or seem read seems, 13, 6 and 11, /oj- Dusky rtad Sooty (Shearwater). 19, 36, for tristris read tristis. 34, 20, for Jistrelata read (Estrelata. 74 1, for p. X. read p. 186. 95^ 2, /o?' smaller read larger. 125J 20, for four rmcZ five. 157, 15, for P. rf«rf T. • -d . , , i 16(5, 28, dele Spixwortli, where the nests are in Portugal laurels. 175', 5, /or Alfred m((Z Philip. . 193, 13, for before the 10th of June read before the last week in May. 221^ 16, for Poole read Christchurch. 240' 8, for Alfred read Philip. 248* 12, for Lower Middle Tertiary read Lower and Middle Tertiary. 267*, lo| for Yenesei read Petchora. 306,' 8, for ruepelli read rueppelli. 370, 18, for Garganey read Gadwall. upper mandible, but united, enclosed, and somewhat hidden" within a tube * Procellaria (jlacialis, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 213 (176G). t Shaw's General Zoology, xiii pt. i. p. 233 (1825). VOL. IV. a Vlll CONTENTS. ANSERES— continued. Anatid.^ — continued. Tadorna casarca. Ruddy Sheld-Duck ,, corauta. Common Sheld-Duck Anas hoscas. Mallard „ strepera. Gadwall . Spatula clyjpeata. Shoveller Dafila acuta. Pintail Duck Oiiernuedula crecca. Teal . PAOK 347 352 368 370 375 380 387 BRITISH BIRDS. TV BIN ARES. PROCELLARIID^E. FuLMARUs GLACiALis (Liniifeus*). THE FULMAR PETREL. Procellaria (jlacialis. FuLMARus, Stepliens-\ . — Beak not so long as the head; the upper mandible composed of four portions, divided by lines, or indentations ; the whole together large and strong, curving suddenly towards the point ; the under mandible grooved along each side, bent at the end, with a prominent angle beneath ; the edges of both mandibles sharp and catting ; those of the lower mandible shut- ting just within those above. Nostrils prominent along the upper ridge of the npper mandible, but united, enclosed, and somewhat hidden within a tube * Procellaria glacialis, Linnteus, Syst. Nat. YA. 12, i. p. 213 (1760). t Shaw's General Zoology, xiii pt. i. p. 2-33 (1825). VOL. IV. B I procellariidj:. with a single external orifice, within which the division between the two nasal openings is visible. Tarsi compressed, feet moderate ; three toes in front united by membranes, hind toe rudimentary, with a conical claw. Wings rather long, the first quill-feather the longest in the wing. The family of the Petrels or Tubinakes was in former Editions associated with the La r idee, but a better knowledge of their structure — due mainly to the investigations of the late Professor Garrod, and the late Mr. W. A. Forbes — has proved that, from an anatomical point of view, the grounds for such collocation are very slight. Whereas the Gulls are schizorhinal, the Petrels are holorhinal ; there are some important myological distinctions ; the character of the caeca is quite different ; moreover the eggs of the Petrels are white, and their young are helpless : in which, and in several other points, the Petrels approach the Storks, the American Vul- tures, and some of the Steganopodes. The Editor is, however, reluctant to change the previous arrangement more than is absolutely necessary, and he, therefore, retains the Petrels in their former position next to the Gulls, although the two families have little in common beyond their webbed feet and more or less pelagic habits.* The Fulmar Petrel is chiefly an autumn and winter visitor to the more southern parts of England, and even then the specimens obtained are chiefly birds which have been driven to our coasts by tempestuous weather. Under such circumstances they have been known to occur far inland, and as they are incapable of rising from a flat surface, examples have been captured alive. But although rare, even on the east coast from Northumberland to Essex, they are by no means uncommon at times on the fishing-grounds about thirty miles out, and when the herring-nets are being hauled the voracity of the Fulmars is so great that they arc some- times taken by hand. Stragglers have also been obtained along the south and west coasts as far as Devon, Cornwall, ♦ The late Professor Garrod proposed to divide the Tubinares into two groups, the Procellarikhp, and the Occanitidcc, and these opinions are confirmed by Mr. Forbes, whose views are fully stated in his ' Report on the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger,' Zoology, Vol. IV. Pt. xi. ; see especially pp. 54-64. FULMAR PETREL. 3 and Somerset, and sometimes, though not often, off Wales and the north-western counties. To Ireland the Fulmar is considered to be a still rarer visitor, and Thompson only records three examples, namely, one at Inchidoney Island, one near Dublin, and one near Cork ; but possibly this may be owing to the absence of observers, for Mr. R. Warren has obtained, or found dead, no less than eight examples, on the sands at the Estuary of the Moy. His attention was attracted to two of these by the attempts of a Great Black-backed Gull to kill and devour them in their water-logged and enfeebled condition after heavy weather. On the eastern shores of Scotland, according to Mr. R. Gray, this species occurs in winter, being frequently cast up by the sea or obtained in an emaciated condition. Its breed- ing-quarters are St. Kilda, Soa, and Borrera, from which group of rocks it is a straggler in the summer season to the Outer Hebrides ; and it has been erroneously stated to nest in Skye. In the Shetlands the Fulmar was only known as a visitor until the 4th of June, 1878, when about a dozen pairs were observed hovering round the cliffs of the island of Foula, where they reared their young in some places in which, according to the natives, no birds had ever bred before. The nests were placed on small ledges formed by the splitting of the rocks into layers, while the entire cliff seemed so per- pendicular that no foothold could be got for even the smallest bird. The next year about double the number of birds re- turned to the same quarters on Foula, and the species seem to be increasing there (Zool. 1879, p. 380). The following account was given in the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal by Mr. John Macgillivray, who visited St. Kilda in June, 1840 : — " This bird exists here in almost incredible numbers, and to the natives is by far the most important of the productions of the island. It forms one of the principal means of support to the inhabitants, who daily risk their lives in its pursuit. The Fulmar breeds on the face of the highest precipices, and only on such as are furnished with small grassy shelves, every spot on which, 4 PROCELLARIID^. above a few inches iu extent, is occupied with one or more of its nests. The nest is formed of herbage, seldom balky, generally a mere shallow excavation in the turf, lined with dried grass, and the withered tufts of the sea-pink, in which the bird deposits a single egg, of a pure white colour when clean, which is seldom the case, and varying in size from two inches seven lines to three inches one line in length by two inches in breadth.* On the 30th of June, having partially descended a nearly perpendicular precipice, six hundred feet in height, the whole face of which was covered with the nests of the Fulmar, I enjoyed an opportunity of watching the habits of this bird, and describe from personal observation. The nests had all been robbed about a month before by the natives, who esteem the eggs of this species above all others. Many of the nests contained each a young bird a day or two old at farthest, thickly covered with long white down. The young birds were very clamorous on being handled, and vomited a quantity of clear oil, with which I sometimes observed the parent birds feeding them by dis- gorging it. The Fulmar is stated in most works on orni- thology to possess the power of ejecting oil with much force through its tubular nostrils, using this as a mode of defence ; but although I surprised several upon the nest, I never observed them attempt this. On being seized they instantly vomit a quantity of clear amber-coloured oil, which imparts to the whole bird, its nest and young, and even to the rock which it frequents, a peculiar and very disagreeable odour. Fulmar oil is among the most valuable productions of St. Kilda. The best is obtained from the old bird. The Fulmar flies with great buoyancy and considerable rapidity, and when at sea is generally seen skimming along the surface of the waves at a slight elevation, though I never observed one to alight, or pick up anything from the water. "f Before proceeding further, it will be convenient to state * Average 2 "9 by 2 in. The sliell, which is rough, and pervaded by a strong musky odour, is sometimes minutely freckled with rusty red. f A more recent account is given by Capt, H. J. Elwes in ' The Ibis,' 1869, pp. 32-35. FULMAR PETREL. 5 that in the Fulmar there appear to be two distinct phases of plumage, analogous, perhaps, to the light and the dark forms observed in some of the Skuas. The ordinary adult bird has a slate-grey mantle with white head, neck, and underparts ; but a considerable number of individuals are of an entirely ash-grey tint : the head, neck, and underparts being only a shade lighter than the mantle. The latter plumage has been generally assumed and even positively stated, to be that of the immature bird, but such is not necessarily the case. The Editor is indebted to Mr. E. Hargitt for two fledged young birds taken on Myggenaes in the Fisroes, in the month of August, 1876, with patches of down still adhering, and their underparts are quite as white as those of the adult : in fact, but for the gi-eater freshness of the unworn feathers of the mantle, and the weaker bill, the young are like their parents. Mr. L. Kumlien, naturalist to the American Polar Expedition of 1877-78, states that in July he found a few of these dark-coloured birds breeding on some small rocky islands in Cumberland Sound. He adds that more dark birds were seen in spring than in autumn, and that they predomi- nate along the western shores of Davis Strait and Baffin Bay ; but on Blue Mountain, Ovifak, Grreenland, where the Fulmars breed in myriads to the very summit, about 2,000 feet high, he saw but few dark birds, the fledged nestlings being white on the underparts. Major Feilden was told by Mr. Fencker, of Godhavn, that the dark birds were called by the natives * Igarsok,' a word meaning ' cook,' because that functionary on board the Danish trading-vessels usually dresses in a blue jersey (Zool. 1878, p. 376) ; he also observed that the light- breasted birds domineered over the dark ones ; and so far as the Editor can judge from the limited series available, the dark birds are on the average somewhat smaller. There are, however, gradations in colour connecting the two extremes. In the Faeroe Islands the Fulmar made its first appear- ance as a breeding species about the year 1839, and it has since become common there. On the coast of Scandinavia it is only observed between autumn and spring, except, perhaps, to the north of the Arctic circle; and in the Baltic it is only b PROCELLARIID^. a straggler. Its winter range is known to extend as far south as the Mediterranean, a specimen having been obtained at Cette on the 18th of December, 1860. In Iceland it is one of the commonest of birds, it being stated that from twenty to thirty thousand young Fulmars are annually caught on the Vestmannejjar Islands to the southward, and Mr. Proctor observed that it was common at Grimsey, where the dark grey form is said to predominate. It is found in abundance in the Greenland Seas, Davis Strait, and Baffin Bay ; and up Smith Sound two were observed by the * Alert ' explorers in 82° 30' N. lat. Round Spitsbergen both forms are very numerous, and the light one breeds in thousands on some of the islands ; also, in less abundance, on Novaya Zemlya ; but its continuous range cannot as yet be traced along the coast of Arctic Siberia. In Bering Sea and the North Pacific are found two forms of questionable specific distinctness, F. pacijicus and F. rodgersi, which also display the grey phase of plumage, and one of these, or else our Fulmar, occurs on Prince Albert Land. On the Atlantic seaboard the winter range of the Fulmar extends to Massa- chusetts. Scoresby, in his account of the Arctic Regions, has given a long account of this species, part of which is as follows : — " The Fulmar is the constant companion of the whale-fisher, joining his ship immediately on passing the Shetland Islands, and accompanying it to the highest accessible latitudes. It keeps an eager watch for anything thrown overboard ; the smallest particle of fatty substance can scarcely escape it. Fulmars are remarkably easy and swift on the wing, flying to windward in the highest storms, and resting on the water in great composure in the most tremendous seas ; but it is observed that in heavy gales they fly extremely low, gene- rally skimming along by the surface of the water. They are extremely greedy of the fat of the whale, and though few should be seen when a whale is about being captured, yet, as soon as the flensing process commences, they rush in from all quarters, and frequently accumulate to many thou- sands in number. They then occupy the greasy track of the FULMAR PETREL. « 7 ship ; and being audaciously greedy, fearlessly advance within a few yards of the men employed in cutting up the whale. It is highly amusing to observe the voracity with which they seize the pieces of fat that fall in their way ; the size and quantity of the pieces they take at a meal ; the curious chuckling noise which, in their anxiety for despatch, they always make ; and the jealousy with which they view, and the boldness with which they attack, any of their species that are engaged in devouring the finest morsels. When carrion is scarce, the Fulmars follow the living whale, and sometimes, by their peculiar motions when hovering at the surface of the water, point out to the fisher the position of the animal of which he is in pursuit. They cannot make much impression on the dead whale until some more powerful animal tears away the skin, for this is too tough for them to make way through it." In the adult bird the curved point of the bill is yellow, the sides yellowish-white, the superior ridge investing the nostrils greenish ; irides dark brown ; a small dark spot in front of the eye ; head and the neck all round white ; the back, all the wing-coverts, secondaries, tertials, upper tail- coverts, and tail-feathers pearl-grey ; wing-primaries slate- grey ; breast, belly, and all the under surface of the body white : sometimes with a little grey on the flanks ; legs, toes, and their membranes, pale grey in life, drying yellowish ; the claws slender, but curved and pointed. The whole length of an adult male is about nineteen inches ; the wing, from the anterior bend, twelve to thirteen inches ; the middle toe and its claw longer than the tarsus. In the grey phase the Fulmar has the tip of the bill yellow, the sides brownish-yellow, the sheath of the nostrils almost black ; head, neck, back, wings, and tail nearly uniform ash-brown, but the surface of the back and wings rather darker in colour ; chin, neck in front, and all the under surface of the body also uniform ash-brown, but rather paler in colour than the upper surface ; legs and toes bluish horn-colour, membranes paler. PROCELLARITD^. TUBINARES. PROCELLARIID^. ffiSTKELATA HiESITATA (Kubl*). THE CAPPED PETREL. Procellaria hasltata. (EsTRELATA, Bonapcivte f . — Bill rather shorter than the head, stout, com- pressed, straight for some distance, then ascending at the commencement of the unguis, which is sharply decurved, with an acute tip ; nasal tubes moderately long, elevated, conspicuous, the dorsal outline straight, the orifice subcircular. Wings long and pointed, extending beyond the tail when folded ; the first quill a trifle longer than the second. Tail moderately long and graduated. Tarsi reticulated ; feet and front toes of moderate size ; hind toe small and elevated. The Capped Petrel represented above was observed in Marcb or April, 1850, by a boy on a beatb at Southacre, near Swaflfham in Norfolk, flapping for gome time from one * Procellaria Jumfata, Kuhl, Beit. Zool. i. p 142 (1820). f yEslrehita, Bonaparte, Compt. Rend. xlii. p. 768 (1856). Amended to CEslrelala, the derivation being from olrrrpoi (restrus), a gad-fly. CAPPED PETREL. 9 furze-bush to another ; at length it got into one of the bushes, and was then secured by him : exhausted as it was, it had strength enough remaining to bite violently the hand of its captor, who thereupon killed it. The late Mr. Newcome, of Hockwold Hall, near Brandon, fortunately happened at the time to be hawking in the neighbourhood of Swaffham, and his falconer, John Madden, observing the boy with the dead bird, procured it from him, and brought it to his master, by whom it was skinned and mounted, and in whose collection it found a place. A detailed account of this bird, with two illustrations, is given by Prof. Alfred Newton in 'The Zoolo- gist' for 1852, p. 3691. In the Museum at Boulogne there is an example said to have been shot near that town many years ago by its donor, a sportsman long since deceased, and these are the only two instances on record of the occurrence of this species on the shores of Europe. Little is known of the distribution or head-quarters of this Petrel. In the British Museum there is a specimen from Hayti ; and in Paris there are three examples obtained by L'Herminier, in the island of Guadeloupe.* Lafresnaye states, on his authority (Rev. Zool. 1844, p. 168), that there are two closely-allied species in that island, the one arriving towards the end of September, and breeding in the cliffs ; the latter, and somewhat smaller species, arriving at a different time of year, and breeding in the same cliffs, but at a different elevation. The natives distinguish them as ' Petrels des hauts ' and * Petrels des has.' One or both of these may, perhaps, be the ' Diablotin ' of the natives, stated nearly two centuries ago by Pere Labat to breed in holes in the mountains, especially in La Souflfriere of Guadeloupe, and in Dominica ; and it has been assumed that Labat's bird may be this species ; but against this it must be said that Labat expressly states tbat his ' Diablotin ' is black all over, and as such ho figures it. Mr. F. Ober, who recently visited the above islands, and made expeditions to the mountains for the purpose of obtaining the ' Diablotin,' * Tliere is a fourth specimen in the Paris Museum, and one at Leiden, but the localities of their capture are not positively known. VOL. IV. C 10 PROCELLARITD^, was unsuccessful. A bird referred by Dr. E. Coues to this species, but originally described by Mr. G. N. Lawrence (Ann. Lye. N. York, iv. p. 474), under the name of Procel- laria meridionalis, was found floating, wounded, on a salt lagoon on the eastern coast of Florida in the winter of 1846. The following is the description, by Prof. Alfred Newton, of the apparently adult bird whose capture in Norfolk has procured for it a place in this volume : — " The whole of the beak is black : from the crown of the head to the nape of the neck the feathers are white at the base, broadly tipped with dark brown, so as to present, except at the edges of the patch, which is nearly circular, a uniform surface of the latter colour ; in front and below the eye are a few greyish- black feathers extending over the ear-coverts ; the orbits are surrounded with a ring of sepia-brown feathers. The fore- head, face, neck, breast, belly, sides, and under tail-coverts are nearly pure white, but there are also a few dark feathers on the flanks. The back and shoulders are covered with brownish-grey and blackish-brown feathers, the former ap- pearing to have been but lately assumed, but many of the latter are ' sedgy ' and worn at the edges : all these feathers are white at the base, but that colour does not show on the surface. The rump and upper tail-coverts are white, the feathers of the latter elongated. The tail is rounded, and consists of twelve feathers, the outer pair white, edged and broadly tipped with blackish-brown, the next four pair are similarly coloured, but only slightly edged, the tips of each pair being darker as they approach the middle ; the shafts of the quills in all these are white ; the middle pair of quills are brownish-black nearly all their length, their basal being white, and have their shafts corresponding in colour to their webs. The wing-coverts are blackish-brown, bordered with a lighter shade of that colour, the borders of the middle and lower coverts being so broad as to appear like two light-coloured bars across the wing; the quill-feathers are blackish-brown, with shafts of the same, the first quill- feather being the longest ; the under surface of the wings, as far as can be seen, is white. The naked parts of the CAPPED PETREL. 1] tibiae, the tarsi, and the basal halves of the toes and inter- digital membranes appear to have been dusky-yellow, the rest of the feet and claws are black. Mr. Newcome tells me that the specimen was a female, and when fresh killed the irides were deep brown or hazel colour." The whole length is sixteen inches : from the carpal joint to the end of the longest wing-feather rather more than twelve inches. The length of the naked portion of the tibiae is rather more than half an inch ; of the tarsus rather less than an inch and a half ; length of the middle toe, without the claw, about one inch and three-quarters. The bird in the British Museum, which is believed to be immature, has the crown and nape blackish- brown ; the sides of the forehead white, marked with brown ; hind neck, fore part of the face, entire throat and underparts white ; back and upper parts dull brown, the margins of the dorsal feathers lighter ; quills dark brown ; tail dark brown, except at the base, where it is dull white, very much rounded in shape. An example of the Petrel familiarly known as the Cape Pigeon {Daption capense), is recorded by Mr. A. G. More (Ibis, 1882, p. 346) as having been shot near Dublin on the 30th October, 1881 ; and it is stated by Degland and Gerbe that three specimens have been obtained in France. There does not, however, appear to be any adequate reason for in- cluding this species among the Birds of Great Britain, or even of Europe. Its home is essentially the southern hemisphere ; and although it is known to follow ships, for the sake of food, for a considerable distance, yet it is equally certain that many birds, captured with hook and line, are then carried far beyond their usual area before being restored to liberty. 12 TUBINARES. PROCELLARIID.E. PROCELLARIID.E. PuFFiNus MAJOR, F. Fabei'*. THE GKEAT SHEAEWATEK. Puffinus major. Pl'FFINUS, Brisson-f. — Bill rather longer than the head, slender, upper mandible compressed and curved towards the point ; under mandible also slender and decurved at the point. Nostrils tubular, opening by two separate orifices. Legs of moderate length, tarsi compressed laterally ; toes three in front, rather long, webbed throughout ; hind toe rudimentary. Wings long and pointed, the first quill-feather slightly the longest. Tail graduated. The Great Shearwater, represented by the lower figure * Prodromus Island. Orn. p. 5G (1822). f Ornithologio, vi. p. 131 (1760). GREAT SHEARWATER. 13 in the above illustration, is an irregular autumnal visitor to the British coasts, sometimes making its aj)pearance in considerable numbers off the shores of Cornwall and the Scilly Islands. In the former Editions of this work it was confounded with its somewhat smaller congener, the Dusky Shearwater, Puffimis griseus, the upper figure in the plate ; and this confusion having been general, and only recently dispelled, it is still very difficult to assign to their proper species many of the Shearwaters recorded from time to time under the name of Pitjinus major. This difficulty is increased by the fact that the Dusky Shearwater, which is always of a sooty hue, was supposed to be merely the imma- ture stage of P. major. The late Mr. D. W. Mitchell, then of Penzance, who furnished the Author with the birds of both species from which the figures here given were drawn, supplied in addition the following account of the appear- ance of this species on the coast of Cornwall : — " In November, 1839, a man brought me a Puffimis major alive, which he said he had found asleep in his boat when he went oif to unmoor her, preparatory to a fishing expedition. I suppose this happened about three in the afternoon, and the bird had, probably, taken up his quarters at daylight. The moorings at Newlyn are from one hundred to two hundred yards from the shore. There were great numbers of this species off Mount's Bay at that time, and I soon after had two more brought to me, which had been taken by hooks. One of them is the light-coloured specimen in your collection. The dark-coloured bird which you have figured [P. griseus], was, I believe, obtained in a similar manner about the same period in 1838. It is the only example in that state which I met with during my residence in Cornwall. The adult bird appears pretty regularly every autumn, though not always in equal numbers. It has long been in several collections at Plymouth, though it does not appear to have been distinguished there from I\ aufilorum, until Dr. Moore published his Catalogue of the ]3irds of Devon. The latter is not a very common bird there, which may have been the cause of such a mistake." 14 PROCELLARIID^. " P. major is vei-y well known to the Scillonians, by whom it is called Hackholt. They inform me it is a constant visitant in the latter part of avitumn, and represent its manners on the water as resembling those of P. anglorum. I recollect seeing four last year, through a telescope in Mount's Bay. It was late in the afternoon, the wind blowing hard from S.S.W., which accounted for their being so far in- shore ; they are generally deep-sea goers. They had exactly the flight of P. anglorum, and kept so close to the water as almost to skim the tops of the waves. Mr. Clement Jackson told me last spring that they appear some autumns ofi" Looe and Polperro in thousands." Genuine examples of the Great Shearwater have been taken on the coasts of Devonshire and Dorset ; but on our eastern shores there appear to be but few well-authenticated occurrences of this species. A bird shot on the 10th of January, 1874, near Flamborough, is in the collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun. ; and one captured near Spalding, in Lincolnshire, was forwarded alive to the Gardens of the Zoological Society of London (Zool. 1882, p. 464). Mr. Cordeaux informs the Editor that in September 1881, this species passed Flamborough in considerable numbers. Mr. R. Gray does not include the Great Shearwater in his * Birds of the AVest of Scotland.' In Ireland the Great Shearwater was obtained by Mr. R. Warren, near Downpatrick Head, on the 22nd August, 1859 ; and Mr. Robert Davis, jun., of Clonmel, sent the Author notice and a coloured drawing of two birds taken respectively in the autumns of 1838 and 1839. Mr. Davis says, " I kept the second specimen alive for about a week, but, not having a suitable place for that purpose, lulled it and set it up. As well as I can recollect the former speci- men, this resembled it in every respect. It was, however, more lively, and ran along very rapidly, with the breast about an inch and a half from the ground. Having, on one occa- sion, put it on a roof, it seemed to be more at ease on the inclined plane afforded by that situation, than on a flat sur- face ; it mounted rapidly to the top, though when it came GREAT SHEARWATER. 15 to the edge no attempt to fly was made, and it fell heavily to the ground. It rarely stirred at all during the day, but kept itself as much concealed as possible, and if it could not hide its body, would endeavour to conceal its head. The fishermen sometimes keep them for weeks about their houses, and in some instances they have become tame ; they never attempt to fly. It does not appear that the Manks Shear- water is ever seen, nor could I ascertain that a Greater Shearwater was ever shot, but always taken with a hook. They are commonly known by the name of Hagdojvns." It is probable, from what is known of its geographical distri- bution, that it is of not unfrequent occurrence off the southern and western coasts. Examples obtained off" the coast of Kerry are in the Museum of Science and Art, Dublin ; and Major Feilden states that on the 19th of October, 1876, when returning from the Arctic Expedition in H.M.S. ' Alert,' in lat. 55° 44' N., long. 35° 38' W., a thousand miles from Cape Clear, he came upon birds of this species, which accompanied the ship across the Atlantic until within a few miles of the Skelligs and the coast of Kerry. Sir K. Payne-Gallwey thinks there is some chance that it may be found breeding on the outlying Blasquets, where, on the occasion of his visit in 1881, an old cliff'-climber remarked, unprompted, that sometimes when searching for the Manx Shearwater, he had come upon a few birds of about double the size (Fowler in Ireland, p. 289). In the Faeroes and in Iceland the Great Shearwater is rare ; but it is marked by Prof. Reinhardt as breeding in Green- land, where, according to Holboll, large numbers are found from the southern point of the country to 65° 30' N. lat. It is abundant at times off" Newfoundland. In the Azores it is replaced by Pujfinus kuhli, a species which visits the western coasts of France and the Iberian Peninsula, and which is abundant in the Mediterranean. The range of the Great Shearwater in America extends as far south as Florida, and specimens referred to this species have been obtained at Tierra del Fuego, and also near the Cape of Good Hope. Nothing definite is known respecting the nidification of 16 PROCELLARIIDiE. the Great Shearwater, for the hircl that hreeds on the Desertas, near Madeira, and the egg of which was figured by Hewitson as belonging to P. major, is really P. kuhli. Nor have we many details respecting its habits. Its flight is described as very striking ; with a single movement of the wings it alters its course, gliding down the valleys between the Atlantic rollers with a barely perceptible quiver, and without any apparent effort. As regards its food, Mr. Gurney states that the stomach of the bird shot near Flam- borough contained the horny jaws of about half a dozen small cuttle-fish : the jaws varying from a sixteenth to a quarter of an inch in diameter ; and similar remains have been found in the stomach of the Fulmar. In the bird from which the lower figure in our woodcut was taken, the bill is dark purplish-brown, the hooked tip of the upper mandible bluish-grey ; irides dark brown ; head and occiput dark ash-grey ; back of the neck almost white ; back, wing-coverts, and tertials, ash-grey ; all the margins greyish- white ; primaries and tail-feathers blackish-brown ; chin, sides, and front of neck, the breast, and sides of the body, white ; lower belly, vent, and under tail-coverts dull white, slightly varied with ash-brown ; legs, toes, and their mem- branes, flesh-coloured, drying to yellow. The whole length is eighteen inches ; of the wing, from the bend, thirteen inches ; whole length of the bill one inch and seven-eighths ; of the tubular portion half an inch ; of the tarsus two inches and one-eighth ; of the middle toe and claw two inches and seven-eighths. A specimen in the collection of Mr. E. Hargitt, taken at Fiskenasset, Greenland, on the '28th June, 1876, has the outer primaries in their sheaths and undeveloped. SOOTY SHEARWATER. 17 TV BIN A RES. PROCELLA RIIDJi. PUFFINUS GRISEUS (Gmeliii*). THE SOOTY SHEARWATER. The Sooty Shearwater represented by the upper figure in the woodcut at the head of the preceding species, is a more frequent visitor than has generally been supposed to the shores and the vicinity of the British Islands. As already stated, it was, until recently, considered to be the young of the Great Shearwater, and it is consequently impossible, in the absence of any description, to say to which of the two species many of the earlier records refer. Those which the Editor has been able to identify with the Sooty Shearwater are the following ; but there are doubtless many more, for although not observed in such large flocks as the Great Shearwater has been in the south-west of England, the present species appears to be more generally distributed, especially along the eastern side. The first example of which there is any record was ex- hibited at a meeting of the Zoological Society on the 12th of July, 1832, by Mr. Arthur Strickland, of Boynton, near Bridlington, in Yorkshire, who stated that it was shot by Mr. George Marwood, jun., of Busby, in the middle of August, 1828, on a very stormy day, at the mouth of the Tees ; it was seen early in the morning, sitting on the water like a duck, and was shot as it was rising ; its manner of flight was consequently not noticed. This specimen, which was then identified with Puffinus fuliginosiis, Kuhl, was subsequently figured on the same plate with an example of the Great Shearwater {P. major), by Gould, in his 'Birds of Europe,' under the impression that they belonged to the same species. Another, obtained on the Northumberland coast, was described and figured by Selby (111. Brit. Orn. ii. p. 528, pi. 102*), under the name of P. cinercus, Stephens * Procellaria (jrisea, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 564 (1788) ex Latham. VOL. IV. D 18 PROCELLARIID^. [nec Gmelin]. Next in date, as regards England, is the one obtained by the late D. W. Mitchell, in Mount's Bay, Cornwall, in the autumn of 1838, and figured in the woodcut with P. major in the present volume. Then comes a bird purchased alive by Mr. T. Southwell, on the 26th July, 1851, of a boy who caught it sleeping on the water at the mouth of the river Ouse, near Lynn, Norfolk, and which, after being kept for five days, was set up for the Museum of that town, where it still remains ; but it was at the time recorded (Zool. pp. 8234, 3279) as P. major, an error only recently corrected (Tr. Norw. N. Soc. iii. p. 474). In the autumn of 1866 three Sooty Shearwaters were obtained, and several more were seen, as recorded by Mr. W. Boulton (Zool. 1867, p. 543), oflf Bridlington, but these again were supposed to be the young of P. major. At Whitby a specimen, now in the Museum of that town, was taken in September 1870 (Zool. 1884, p. 180) ; at Bridlington again, one presented to the Oxford Museum was obtained in 1872 (Zool. 1883, p. 121) ; one taken ofi" Flamborough in 1881, is in the collection of Mr. J. Whitaker, of Rainworth Lodge, Mansfield ; two identified by Mr. W. Eagle Clarke, were captured in the same locality in September 1883 ; and on the 17th of that month a specimen, which the Editor exhibited at a meeting of the Zoological Society, was shot by Mr. T. H. Nelson, off Redcar. On the Northumberland coast one was taken in August 1873, and is now in the collection of Mr. Eaine, of Durham. According to Mr. Mansel-Pleydell, a Dorset- shire specimen is in the Frome Scientific Institute ; and Mr. Gatcombe answers for two near Plymouth. As regards Scotland, it would appear, from Saxby's * Birds of Shetland ' (p. 363), and Mr. R. Gray's ' Birds of the West of Scotland ' (p. 505), that a Shearwater, which they call Pujfinus cinereus, has been obtained in the Shetland Islands, and off Caithness ; but no descriptions are given to lead to identification. Mr. J. J. Dalgleish has recently informed the Editor that a bird shot off North Berwick on the 27th August, 1878, and recorded (Pr. R. Phys. Soc. SOOTY SHEARWATER. 19 Edinb. v. pp. 34, 376), under the names of P. cinereus and P. major, is really a Sooty Shearwater. As regards Ireland, Mr. E. Warren has now no doubt that the birds which he saw off Cork Harbour in August, 1849, and recorded by Thompson (B. Ireland, iii. p. 409) under the name of P. major, were really Sooty Shearwaters ; Mr. A. G. More has identified one shot many years ago off the coast of Kerry (Zool. 1881, p. 334) ; and Mr. E. Lloyd Patterson has .one, which was recorded, like so many others, as a Great Shear- water, shot in Belfast Lough on the 29th September, 1869. The Sooty Shearwater visits the northern coasts of France, and the Editor has examined, in the collection of Dr. Mar- mottan, two examples taken off Crotoy, at the mouth of the Somme, on the 25th of September, 1872, and the 9th of June, 1875, respectively. It has occurred more than once in the Faeroe Islands (Zool. 1878, p. 154), and it appears to hs generally distributed over the Atlantic, being especially common off the Bay of Fundy— where it is known as the ' Black Hagdon ' — Labrador, and Newfoundland, ranging for some distance up the coast of Greenland. These are, however, by no means the limits of its distribution, for Mr. Dresser states (B. of Europe, viii. p. 524) that Mr. Salvin and he are agreed as to the identity of examples from Cali- fornia, Chili, the Cape of Good Hope, Australia, and New Zealand. It is from the latter place that we derive our know- ledge of its nidification, the species having been found by Mr. Travers to be common all round the coasts of the Chatham group (Tr. New Zeal. Inst. v. p. 220). He states that it burrows in peaty ground horizontally for three or four feet, and then turning slightly to the right or left, a rude nest of twigs and leaves being formed at the extremity of the hole. In this a single egg is laid, which Mr. Buller describes as white stained with reddish-brown, and measuring 3*25 by 2 in.* The male assists in the work of incubation, and the young birds, which are very fat, arc esteemed a delicacy by * The egg described by Mr. Jiullcr is that of P. ii-istris, which is identified bv Messrs. Salvin and Dresser with this species. It seems very large, considering that the bird is rather smaller than P. kuhli, whose egg averages 2 '6 by 1'7. 20 PROCELLARIID^. the Maories, who hold them over their mouths in order to swallow the oily matter which is disgorged. The old birds roost on shore, and are very noisy during the night. The food of this species is probably of the same nature as that of its congeners. In the bird from which the upper figure on p. 12 was taken, the bill is dark brown, the base of the under mandible lighter brown ; irides dark brown ; head and neck all round, and the back, dark clove-brown ; scapulars and tertials the same, but with lighter-coloured margins ; upper wing-coverts, primaries, and tail-feathers blackish-brown ; under wing- coverts, breast and belly greyish hair-brown, each feather much darker in colour on the margin than over the centre ; legs brown on the outer surface, but pale wood-brown on the inner ; toes and their membranes yellowish-brown. The whole length of the bird is seventeen inches and one-quarter ; wing, from the anterior bend, twelve inches and three- quarters ; whole length of the bill one inch and three- quarters ; of the tubular portion half an inch ; of the tarsus two inches ; of the middle toe, including the claw, two inches and five-eighths. Like other Petrels, this species exhibits considerable variation in size ; in Mr. Nelson's bird the whole length is eighteen inches ; the wing from the carpal joint thirteen and a quarter inches ; bill two inches ; tarsus two and a half inches. TUB IN A RES. MANX SHEARWATER. 21 PROCELLARIID.^. --^~m^ -^ _^-. PuFFiNus ANGLORUM (Temminck*). THE MANX SHEARWATEE. Piiffinus anglornm. The Manx Shearwater is the commonest species of the genus ill the British seas, and as the period of incubation approaches it resorts to many portions of our coast, generally selecting small islands which are seldom made the residence of man. It owes its trivial name to Willughby, who speaks of it as the Puffin of the Isle of Man, where in his time, and until a comparatively recent date, it was abundant on the small island off the south-western extremity, known as the Calf of Man. In this locality it is believed by Mr. Crellin to have been extirpated by rats. Mr. T. Dix, writing in 1869, says that it breeds in numbers on Caldy Island, off Tenby, as well as on Skomer and Skokhum, two smaller islands to the northward (Zool. s.s. p. 1681) ; and a few * ProccUaria amjJorum, Temminck, Man. d'orn. ii. p. 80G (1820). 22 PROCELLARIID^. may, perhaps, inhabit Lundy Island, in the Bristol Channel, where the bird is well known under the name of ' Cuckle.' On the Cornish coast, where, according to Couch, it is provincially called ' Skidden,' it is common, especially in autumn, and breeds on some of the Scilly Islands. Along the shores of the British Channel it is generally distributed, becoming rarer in the narrow eastern portion ; but from the coast of Suffolk northwards it is observed in considerable numbers, particu- larly off Flamborough, although no breeding- station is known on the east side of England, or, indeed, of Scotland. On the western side, according to Mr. R. Gray, there are numerous breeding-haunts, especially within the circle of the Inner Hebrides ; and to the westward, on St. Kilda, and on Pabba}^ which is next to Mingalay, where the bird is known by the name of ' Scraib.' Capt. Elwes says (Ibis, 1869, p. 28) that this bird was formerly very common, and the young ones, which were called ' Fachach,' were so highly esteemed that a barrel of them formed part of the rent paid by each crofter in Mingalay to the Macneills of Barra. About a hundred years ago, however, the Puffins, which before were not numerous, began to increase very much, and drove the Shearwaters from the holes which they occupied in the cliffs ; and now they have completely supplanted them, so that only a few pairs of Shearwaters are left in the island of Pabbay. At Bernera, on which a lighthouse has been built, none have nested since 1843. On the island of Rum there is a nursery of this species situated on the face of a hill among broken boulders about a mile from the sea ; but in early times the breeding-place was on the coast, and the Inrds were then collected at the close of the season and salted for winter use. Several other haunts are enumerated by Mr. Gray, who adds that the Shearwaters make their appearance about the 10th of April, remaining until October. In the Orkneys and Shetlands, where the bird is known as the ' Lyrie,' infor- mation respecting the localities where it nests is only to be obtained with difficulty, owing to the estimation in which the young are held by the fishermen. The latter assert that the bird is never seen abroad in the daytime ; but this, as MANX SHEARWATER. 23 Saxby says, is quite incorrect, and the Editor remembers seeing large numbers one forenoon off Unst, In Ireland there are in all probability a good many breed- ing-places among the little visited or scantily populated islands on the west coast. The Editor has taken its eggs on Eathlin Island, off the coast of Antrim, where, as in Donegal, the name ' Fachach ' is used for the adults as well as the young ; the Skelligs, off Kerry, is another spot ; and there are also some stations in the St. George's Channel. The Author was favoured by the late Mr. D. W. Mitchell with the following account of the habits of this species, as observed by himself off" the coast of Cornwall : — " To the westward of St. Agnes, in the Scilly group, lies a barren island called Annet. Its northern shore is abrupt and craggy, it gradually slopes towards the south, and nar- rows into a sort of peninsula, where the sandy soil is rich enough to produce a dense growth of short ferns. Here is the stronghold of the Shearwaters. Sit down on a rock which commands the little territory, and you will see nothing but the Terns, who have a station on the higher and central part of the island, and are making a flight of inquiry very much like the Black-headed Gulls in your vignette. Yes, you will see a hundred or two of Oyster-catchers, who do not like your landing so near their nests, and make short journeys hither and thither, whistling all the while like birds possessed. You will see two or three pairs of Turnstones, and a few Ring Dotterel ; perhaps a Curlew. You may wait all a sunny day in June, but not a Shearwater will you see on land or water. There are plenty near you all the time, however, as you may ascertain by the odour which issues from the first burrow you look into among the ferns. As soon as the sun is down you will see a little party of five or six flitting silently across the sound, or steering out to sea. The latest fishers from the colony of Terns are coming home from the sandy shallows, five or six miles away, with their throats and beaks crammed with Lance-fish, when the Shearwaters begin to wake. You will not see them come out of their holes ; you first catch sight of them 24 procellariidj:. skimming round the corner of a rock close to the water. Perhaps they will have a great gathering, such as I en- countered one evening in ' Smith's Sound.' There was a congregation of at least three hundred, in the middle of the tide-way, washing, dipping, preening feathers, and stretching wings, evidently just awake, and making ready for the night's diversion. As I wanted a few specimens more than I had dug out of the hurrows, I ran my boat well up to them, and when they rose got as many as I wished, besides a few unfortunate cripples who were only wdnged, and proved, by their agility in swimming and diving, a good deal too much for my boatmen. I think a good dog w^ould have no chance with them. They allowed me to come quite close. They sit low in the water ; they make no noise when disturbed, though in their holes they are eloquent enough, the Scillonian synonyms of Creiv and Gockatliodon being derived from the guttural melodies they pour forth as the spade approaches the end in which the egg is deposited. I once caught a pair in one burrow who were crooning a duet of this kind before we commenced opera- tions. I presume they were in the honey-moon, as there was no egg. It is frequently deposited on the fine sandy soil without any preparation, though generally there is a slight accumulation of fern leaves and old stems. They produce but one egg, which, when fresh laid, is of the most dazzling whiteness, and of peculiarly beautiful texture ; it measures two inches five lines in length, by one inch nine lines in breadth, and is very large for the size of the bird. When you kill a Shearwater by pressure, as I generally did for the sake of her skin, she vomits a most abominable oil, in which float so many particles of brilliant green that it appears of that colour, though the stain it leaves is yellow. The quantity got rid of in this way is sometimes enormous. "^Yhen the young bird leaves the egg it is covered with greyish-black down, except a stripe along the centre of the breast and belly, which is white. I found a chick very lively in an egg which had been taken from the burrow two days previously to my eixamining it. ]\Iy notice was MANX SHEARWATER. 25 attracted by hearing a little voice in the basket as I sat jDreparing a skin about midnight. I thought of Asmodeus in the bottle immediately." The single white egg is deposited in a burrow or the crevice of a rock on a few blades of dried grass ; it is smooth in texture, although without much gloss ; there is compara- tively little of the musky odour about it so obtrusive in the eggs of the Fulmar ; and the yolk is a very pale yellow ; average measurements 2*4 by 1*65 in. Incubation com- mences early in May, but, according to Saxby, if the first egg is taken the same bird will lay again some weeks later. The nestling remains in its home until long after it is fully fledged, and becomes enormously fat. The stomachs of the adults examined by Saxby contained the jaws of a small species of cuttle-fish, together with a small quantity of com- minuted sea-weed, and some vegetable fibre. In the intervals of its rapid and somewhat angular flight this species has frequently been observed, contrary to a popular idea, to settle on the water, where, however, it seldom remains for long. In skimming the surface of the water it frequently ploughs it up with its breast. After severe weather, storm-driven individuals are not unfrequently picked up in our inland counties. The Manx Shearwater breeds in considerable numbers in the Faeroes ; and is found on the coast of Norway and throughout the North Sea ; it is believed to have some breeding-places on the islands off" the coast of Brittany, and it undoubtedly nests about the Canaries, Madeira, the Desertas, and the Azores. It is stated by Reiuhardt to have occurred in Greenland; and Mr. G. A. Boardman informed Mr. Dresser tbat it was common on the fishins:- grounds oft' the Bay of Fundy. Capt. Savile G. Reid, R.E,, states (Zool. 1877, p. 491) that there is a specimen in Mv. Bartram's collection at Bermuda which was captured whilst sitting on its solitary egg, some years ago. In the Medi- terranean there occurs a resident form of doubtful specific distinctness, characterized, as a rule, by a larger amount of brown striations on the under tail-coverts. This is the vor-. IV. E 26 PROCELLARIID-E. P. yelkouan of Acerbi, and the ' Ame damuee ' of the Bos- phorus, so often mentioned by travellers. Kriiper and others have called it P. ohscurus, thereby augmenting the confusion regarding the Shearwaters, but there is no evidence to show that the true Dusky Shearwater has ever occurred in the Mediterranean. In the adult bird the bill is blackish-brown, but lighter brown at the base ; irides hazel ; head, back of the neck, back, wings, and tail uniform brownish-black ; chin, and neck in front white ; sides of the neck varied with dark grey and white in transverse bars ; breast, belly, and under tail-coverts white ; behind the thighs a patch of brownish- black ; legs, toes, and their membranes jellowish flesh- colour. The whole length of the bird is fourteen inches ; from the anterior bend of the wing to tbe end of the longest quill- feather, nine inches and a half. In the first plumage the upper parts are of a more sooty- brown than in the adult ; the throat and breast are mottled with brownish-grey ; flanks, abdomen and under tail-coverts brown ; legs and feet brownish, membranes pale yellow. This description is taken from a male in the collection of the Editor, shot oft' Malaga on the 30th of January. TV BIN A RES. DUSKY SHEARWATER. 27 PnOCELLAlUIhM. ^^W=:^^^Ei> PuFFiNUS OBSCURUS (Gmelin*). THE DUSKY SHEARWATER. Ptiflinus ohscuriis. The interesting Shearwater figured above was brought to the Author by Mr. B. Blackburn, of Valentia Harbour, in the county of Kerry ; who afterwards sent him the follow- ing note of its occurrence : — " The Petrel which I left with you this morning flew on board a small sloop oft' the island of Valentia, on the south- west coast of Ireland, late in the evening of the 11th of May, 1853. Mrs. Blackburn had never observed it before on our coast, and we concluded it to be the Pnjjinus ohscurus of Temminck and Gould. It made no attempt either to run or fly away, and suffered itself to be handled without exhibiting alarm ; and though apparently strong and vigor- ous, manifested quite an oriental resignation to its fate." This specimen was exhibited at a meeting of the Linnean * Procellaria ubscura, Gnieliii. Sysf. Nat. i. p ^>59 (1788). 28 procellariidj:. Society on the 7th of June, 1853, as shown by the Mmutes of that date. In 'The Zoologist' for 1858 (p. G096), Mr. Henry Stevenson recorded the appearance in Norfolk of a Shear- water which he believed at the time to be an example of this rare straggler to the shores of Great Britain, but the specimen was lost sight of, and has only recently been dis- covered, Mr, Stevenson's account has lately been published in the Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich NaturaHsts' Society, iii. (pp. 467-475), and from it the following ex- tracts are taken : — • " My original notes on this interesting bird may be thus summarized. About the 10th of April of the above year it %vas found dead by a gamekeeper on the Earsham Estate, situated close to the south-eastern boundary of Norfolk, and within a mile of the well-known town of Bungay in Suffolk.* Captain Meade, who at that time hired the Hall and the shooting, brought the bird, in the flesh, to the late Mr. John Sayer, birdstuflfer, of St. Giles, Norwich, who at once observed its marked difference in size from any Manx Shearwaters he had ever seen. Being from home, myself, at the time, I did not examine the bird in a fresh state ; but I saw it within a week of its being stuffed, and its resemblance to the figure of the Dusky Petrel in the third edition of Yarrell's * British Birds,' and in the supplement to the second edition (185G), struck me forcibly at first sight ; confirmed, to a great extent, by the comparison of its measurements (though a mounted specimen) with the description given of the species by that author. " It proved, on dissection, to be a male in very poor con- dition, and probably had been driven so far inland by a gale, and met its death through coming in contact, at night, with a tree or some other object, having a wound on one side of the head as if from a violent blow. It showed no ap- pearance of having been shot at ; and the feathers, except on the spot mentioned, were clean and unruffled ; but the * Its flight inland, therefore, from the coast would probably have been between Lowestoft and Southwold. DUSKY SHEARWATER. 29 inner web of one foot was partially nibbled away, as though a mouse or some other vermin had been at it.'^ Fortu- nately I noted these injuries at the time, which have enabled me to identify the specimen again, beyond any doubt,, though lost sight of for the last thirteen years. Having been brought to the birdstufier by Captain Meade, and returned to him when mounted and cased, I naturally inferred that the Petrel belonged to him ; and hearing some time after that he had left England, and all his effects at Earsham had been sold off, I presumed that this rarity was lost to us altogether. In the absence of the bird itself, I was unable to support my previous conviction as to the species ; whilst subsequent accounts of extremely small Manx Shearwaters being occasionally met with, made me question my own judgment in the first instance, more especially as my acquaintance with that class of marine birds was somewhat limited at that time. I specially mention this, because it will explain why I did not bring the fact of the Dusky Petrel having occurred in Norfolk under the notice of either the late Mr. Gould, when pub- lishing his ' Birds of Great Britain,' or of Mr. Dresser for his ' Birds of Europe,' neither of which authors have in- cluded this species in the above-named publications. The re-discovery of the Norfolk specimen was quite accidental. Early in the present year, Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., and myself, being separately engaged in working out a complete list of the ' Birds of Norfolk,' and comparing notes on the subject, the rights of this species to rank with other local rarities was questioned, and, * drawing a bow at a venture,' Mr. Gurney put himself in communication with Mr. Hartcup of Bungay, who proved to be a trustee for the family of the late Sir W. W. Dalling, Bart., and the Earsham Estate. From him it was soon elicited that a good many birds killed on the estate were preserved at the Hall, and amongst these, most fortunately, was found the Dusky * "This was my irupressicjii at the time; but the examination of a large number of Pomatorhine and other Skuas, killed on our coast in 1877, showed that the webs of the feet, in this class of birds, are frequently mutilated." 30 procellariidj:. Petrel of 1858. The tlianks of this Society, and of natural- ists generally, arc clue to Mr. Hartcup for the opportunities he has afforded for a tliorou