History of British animals - University of Guam Marine Laboratory

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 ; W, Cas gan Longwr; N, Alamouti.— Resident.Length h\ inches. Bill black, half an inch in length; tube of the nostrilsshort, sunk at the base. Feet black. Irides dusky. Plumage sooty -black ; thevent, each side, rump, and upper tail-covers, white ; the tips of the last, thetail, and primaries, deep black ; the greater wing-covers, and some of the secondaries,tipped with white. Female similai- Nest in holes in rocks, orearth. 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. Follows the track of vessels in stormyweather, picking up the greasy substances in the wake. According to the observationsof Mr Scarth, this bird makes a low purring noise in the breedingseason. An individual, which he kept for some time in a cage, was supportedby smearing the feathers of the breast with train oil, which the bird afterwardssucked with its bill. When the oil was placed in a saucer in the cage,bird dipped its breast feathers therein, and afterwards sucked the oil fromthem.— Lin. Trans, xiii. 618.219. P. Bullockii. Fork-tailed Petrel.—Tail forked, thewings, 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, Bullock'sSale Cat. 8th day, No. 78—P, Leachii, Temm. Orn. ii. 812. Bonaparte,Journ. Acad. Phil. iii.pt. 2. p. 299. tab. ix— Inhabits StKilda.Length 8 inches. Bill black, robust, upwards of aths of an inch long the;nasal tube even. Feet black. Plumage brownish-black, tinged with cinereous; the primaries and tail darkest ; vent, each side, and upper tail-covers,white with brown shafts ;wing-covers, some of the secondaries, and of thescapulars, gradually changing to dirty-white at the tip. Female similar.— Thisspecies extends over the Atlantic, and is common on the American coast. Itwas first observed and discriminated by Mr Bullock, during a voyage roundthe coast of Scotland in 1818, at St Kilda ;and the specimen which he broughtfrom thence, was, at the sale of his collection, purchased for the British Museum.At the latter place, M. Temminck had an opportunity of examiningit, 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 invain, against his acceptance of a compliment to which he had no claim, andwhich he could retain only at the expense of another. Still entertaining thesame views, I have ventured to alter the trivial name (as then proposed), inorder to do an act of common justice to the individual who had energy to undertakea voyage of inquiry, and sagacity to distinguish the bird in questionas an undescribed species.The figure given by Borlase (Hist. Corn. tab. xxix. 10.) appears, from thelength of the tarsi, and the wings extending greatly beyond the tail, to havebeen the P. oceanica of Forster. It is not improbable that the P. Wilstni ofBonaparte, a species common on the American coast, may occur occasionallyon the shores of the Hebrides or west of Ireland. The black feet, having alarge oblong yellow spot on the web, may serve as a distinguishing mark.