British Sea Birds

by Charles Dixon

STORMY PETREL.

This diminutive species, the Procellaria pelagica of Linnæus and most modern writers, and the “Mother Carey’s Chicken” of mariners, is, perhaps, the best known of the Petrels that frequent the British seas. It is remarkable for being the smallest web-footed bird—a nearly black little creature, with a white patch on the upper tail coverts. Small as this Petrel is, it is just as oceanic in its haunts as its larger and more robust congeners. During boisterous weather, especially about the period of the equinoctial gales in autumn, Stormy Petrels are not unfrequently driven some distance inland; and examples of this species have been picked up more or less exhausted, even in the centre of busy towns. At this season it is also noticed a good deal about certain lighthouses at night. After rough nights I have seen odd Stormy Petrels flying over the fishermen’s cottages like swallows, and many of them are, or used to be, caught in the flight-nets in the Wash. The actions of this Petrel at sea are characteristic of its congeners. It flies about in the same fluttering manner, following the curves of the waves, and pattering along their sloping surfaces with its tiny-webbed feet. It may be met with hundreds of miles from land, following ships, or paying a vessel a short visit, then disappearing again, lost in the lonely wastes of water. It is able to weather many a storm at sea, doubtless obtaining much shelter in the deep hollows of the mighty waves. It may be seen flitting about the storm-stirred sea quite at its ease; and from this fact, it is very popularly believed to be a harbinger of bad weather, and disliked accordingly by sailors. Except during the breeding season, the Stormy Petrel rarely visits the land; it rests and sleeps upon the sea, swimming just as buoyantly as a Duck. It is seldom seen to alight, however, unless to pick up some morsel of food, and rarely remains long upon the water. At its breeding stations it is certainly very nocturnal in its habits, but otherwise it may be seen at all hours of the day fluttering above the sea. Its food probably consists almost entirely of cuttlefish; I have dissected many specimens of this Petrel, and never found anything but oil mixed with sorrel in the stomach. When taken in the hand the bird usually throws up a drop of this oil, or squirts a little from the nostrils, just as the larger Fork-tailed Petrel will do. I have never heard the Stormy Petrel utter a sound, except at the breeding stations, where its note is a noisy twitter. It is more or less gregarious at all times of the year, and generally roams the sea in small scattered parties, but its gatherings are most extensive at certain of its breeding stations.

It is a difficult matter to specify, with any degree of exactness, the breeding stations of such a secretive species as the Stormy Petrel. It may breed for years in a place, and the fact never become known. A specially interesting instance of this has lately occurred within my own experience. Lundy Island has long been thought to be the most easterly breeding station of the Stormy Petrel in England, but all the time, for aught we know to the contrary, it has regularly nested on the Big Rock in Tor Bay, where, during last season (1895), a young bird was taken, and is now preserved in the Torquay Natural History Society’s Museum. The egg had been taken here several years ago, with the parent bird; the latest nest owed its discovery to the acuteness of a dog, attracted by the strong smell emitted by this Petrel. Here then was the Stormy Petrel breeding actually within sight of my front windows, and I giving Lundy Island and the Scilly Islands as its only nesting places in the vicinity! I have seen this Petrel on the whiting grounds outside Tor Bay, and Manx Shearwaters, too, during summer; but where they breed is another matter, so skulking and secretive are their movements near and on the land. So far as is known, there is no breeding-place of the Stormy Petrel on the entire eastern coast-line of England and Scotland. The German Ocean is a land-locked sea, and it is more than probable the Stormy Petrel breeds nowhere on its coasts; but that its nesting-places extend far up the English Channel—much further east than Tor Bay—there can be little doubt. There are many known breeding-places of this Petrel from the Scilly Islands northwards, along the west coast of England, Wales, and Scotland to the Shetlands, and many others round the coasts of Ireland. The favourite breeding haunts of the Stormy Petrel are rocky islands, rising in uneven turf-clad downs, strewn with masses of rock and stones. The bird probably pairs for life, and is more or less gregarious at its breeding-places. The slight nest of dry grass is placed in an old rabbit earth or Puffin burrow, under a rock or heap of loose stones, or in ruins, and amongst masonry. In some cases no nest whatever is made. The single egg is laid normally in June. This is pure white in ground colour, with a faint zone of minute dust-like red specks round the larger end. Like all its kindred, the Stormy Petrel is a close sitter, remaining in its hole until dragged out. It is also crepuscular in its habits at its nesting-places, becoming lively at dusk, when it may be seen flitting to and from the sea in a silent bat-like manner. So far as is known, the breeding area of the Stormy Petrel is exclusively confined to the islands and coasts of the East Atlantic.