THALASSIDROMA LEACHII.

Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel.

Procellaria Leachii, Temm. Man. d’Orn., 2nd edit., tom. ii. p. 812
Hydrobates Leachii, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 562. ee
Thalassidroma Leachii, Keys. und Blas. Wirbelth. Eur,, p. 93.

Procellaria Bullockii, Flem. Hist. of Brit, Anim., p. 136,

Thalassidroma Bullockii, Selby, Ill. Brit, Orn., vol. ii. p. 537.

Procellaria leucorrhoa, Vieill. Nouv. Dict. d@’ Hist. Nat., tom. xxy. p. 422
Cymochorea leucorrhoa, Coues, Proc. of Acad. Nat. Sci. Philad., 1864, a 76, 90

eo ee

Like the common Storm-Petrel, the Thalas
much as it breeds therein, and probably in 1
other season of the year it has been observe

sidron chit ; revar ; indi itain, 1
oma Leachi must be regarded as indigenous to Britain, inas-

nany more localities than have as yet been noticed. At one or

don the shores of every part of our islands, from the extreme
south of England to the north of Scotland and the Hebrides ; almost every local list of birds enumerates it as

occurring in the county to which it pertains ; in Ireland, according to Thompson, it is found in all quarters
of the island, but less frequently. Apart from England, it has been met with on the coast of Holland and in
many parts of Scandinavia; Professor Reinhardt says it is found in Greenland ; the American ornithologists
include it in their avifauna ; and Von Schrenck observed it in Amoorland, and 4

states that specimens from the
Kurile Island do not differ from those seen in England.

It was first observed as a British species, and dis-
criminated as distinct from the Thalassidroma pelagica, by the celebrated collector W. Bullock, in whose sale-
catalogue it appears as “An undescribed Petrel with a forked tail, taken at St. Kilda in 1818;” and
the credit of first making us aware of its breeding in our islands is due to the late Sir William M. E.
Milner, Bart., whose notes on the subject, extracted from the ‘ Zoologist’ for 1848, will be found below.
From that date until 1869 many hundreds of Leach’s Storm-Petrel have been shot or otherwise obtained ;
but by far the greater number have been picked up dead, or in such an exhausted and helpless state as to be
unable to fly—some on the sea-shore, others as far inland as the middle of our island: one was obtained in
the streets of Halifax, in Yorkshire; Mr. J. E. Harting states that another was caught alive in an exhausted
state, by a man at work on the highroad between Edgeware and Stanmore, on the 4th of January, 1850.
The Rev. Bryan Burgess, Chaplain to Lord Chesham, tells me that on the 2nd of November, 1859, Poulter,
his Lordship’s gardener, brought him a Fork-tailed Petrel (Tha/assidroma Leachii) which he had found
lying on its back and flapping its wings in the deer-park at Latimer, in Buckinghamshire ; it died almost
as soon as it was picked up, had the stomach empty, the whole frame very thin, and was much battered
about the head, as if it had been pecked by other birds or had sustained some severe blows; and Mr. G.
Dawson Rowley has recorded in ‘The Field’ for December 15, 1866, that another was caught in aco hatue
and-beef” shop in Brighton. In all probability most of the examples alluded to have been driven to our
shores by violent gales of wind, and starvation, the inevitable result, has caused them to fall down and
die. The next autumn gale may bring us many more, and the succeeding morn reveal a number of exhausted
birds, which are as likely to be found in an open park or on a garden-walk as on the sea-shore. Our lakes
and ponds of fresh water do not seem to have any attractions for these truly ocean-loving eee
Not having had an opportunity of observing this bird in a state of nature, I cannot do better De oe
the short account given by Sir William Milner above alluded to, and the more full one contained in the
third volume of Audubon’s valuable ‘ Ornithological Biography.’ rn of the Bay of St. Kilda,”
“Not far from the top of the cliff of the Isle of Dun, forming the Sea horn o oe ay a,
Pewliam- << we -olony » Fork-tailed Petrel, breeding, like the Stormy Petrel, under the stones
meee am, © were a colony a 2d to them by a low chirping noise, which from time to
Semeur a yard deep. ae os ae ‘ one a only did we find the male and female to-
time the females made while sitting upon ee see Stormy Petrel, but resembles it in being surrounded
gether. The egg is considerably larger than that of the Stormy :

OCc S W € { I

oN. ye . ae : ie 5 as
pee toe their eggs; and'in y d specimens and eggs of the Thalassidroma Leachit on

Petrel.” Sir William mentions that he also obtaine

Borrera, another small island of the St. ee wee she Soon tral us a0 aiec nee COR Tees
ioni ards f August , Pet
After mentioning that towards the end o g

: Sere ae 7 ‘n about an hour, Audubon says,
of Newfoundland that from twenty-five to thirty individuals were a oe ee echt ae
“The species of this genus with which I am acquainted all ramble over ;

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