White-faced Storm-petrel
Pelagodroma marina (Latham, 1790) (1, 0)
Photo © By dominic sherony - originally posted to Flickr as White-face Strom-Petrel, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4139102
STATUS
Oceanic (Atlantic and Southern Oceans). Polytypic.
OVERVIEW
Formerly known as the Frigate Petrel.
In a review of all seabirds by W. R. P. Bourne (Ibis 109: 141-167) the BOU (1971) under 'Introduction' p. xiv, adopted his recommendations for this species and accepted this record. Another review in 2004 still found the 1897 record to be the only one acceptable.
RECORD
1). 1897 Argyll Between Kiloran and Kilchattan, Colonsay, immature female, caught alive, 1st January, P. m. hypoleuca, now at National Museums of Scotland (NMSZ 1897.17).
(W. E. Clarke, Annals of Scottish Natural History 1897: 88; R. Bowdler Sharpe, Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 6: 28; R. H. Traquair, Annals of Scottish Natural History 1897: 225; Witherby, 1920-24; Baxter & Rintoul, 1953; W. R. P. Bourne, Ibis 109: 157; Thom, 1986; I. J. Andrews & K. A. Naylor, Scottish Birds 23: 64; BOURC (2004), Ibis 146: 192-195; Forrester & Andrews et al., 2007: photo).
History Wm. Eagle Clarke (1897) in the Annals of Scottish Natural History, Vol. VI. p. 88, says: 'A specimen of this stranger to European seas was captured alive on the margin of a stream on the west side of the island of Colonsay on the 1st of January of the present year [1897]. It was forwarded in the flesh to Edinburgh, where I had the pleasure of examining it and determining its identity. On dissection, the bird proved to be a female, and an inspection of its bones indicated that it was quite a young bird. Among other evidences of incomplete ossification, the carina exhibited several fenestrations. The sternum of this species is extremely small. The weather immediately preceding this bird's visit to the West Coast of Scotland was characterised by severe gales from the south-west, and these may, perhaps have been instrumental in driving it from its accustomed haunts; the nearest of which are in the vicinity of the Canary Islands; but it is a wide-ranging species in the Southern Seas. The only other visit of this petrel to Europe was also to the west coast of Britain, a specimen having been washed up dead on the sands of Walney Island, Morecambe Bay, in November 1890, as recorded by the Rev. H. A. Macpherson.'
R. Bowdler Sharpe, Editor (1897) in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, Vol. VI. p. 28, at the 40th Meeting of the Club held on 20th January 1897 at the Restaurant Frascati, London, says: 'Mr W. Eagle Clarke sent an account of the occurrence of the Frigate Petrel (Pelagodroma marina) on the west side of Scotland. The bird, a female, was captured alive on1st January of this year, by the margin of a stream on the west side of Colonsay. Having been forwarded in the flesh to Edinburgh and identified by Mr Clarke, it is now in the Scottish National collection, in the Museum of Science and Art in that city. The closing week of December last had been remarkable for a succession of south-westerly gales. This was the second recorded occurrence of this Petrel in European seas; and it was interesting to note that the first record was also for the west coast of Britain, namely, at Walney Island, in Morecambe Bay, where a specimen was washed ashore dead in November 1890.'
R. H. Traquair (1897) in the Annals of Scottish Natural History, Vol. VI. p. 225, on additions to the Edinburgh Science and Art Museum, says: 'The occurrence of this bird on the island of Colonsay on the 1st of January of this year has been already recorded in the April number of this journal (p. 88) by Mr W. Eagle Clarke, who, however, omitted to state that the specimen had been acquired by the Museum of Science and Art.'
Comment In a further review by BOURC (2004) it was found to be still acceptable (Ibis, 146: 192-195).
It is now [2001] a mounted specimen at the National Museums of Scotland (registration no. NMSZ1897.17). It was purchased from W. Small & Son, taxidermists, for £2.10.0.
NOT PROVEN
0). 1890 Cumbria Walney Island, Lancashire, picked up dead, November.
(H. A. Macpherson, Ibis 1891: 602-604; Macpherson, 1892; H. A. Macpherson, Zoologist 1893: 151; Hartert et al., 1912; L. E. Hope, Transactions of the Carlisle Natural History Society 1923 (3): 38; Witherby et al., 1940-52; Hollom, 1960; W. R. P. Bourne, Ibis 109: 157).
[Not in BOU, 1971; Hutcheson, 1986].
History Macpherson (1892: 457-458) says: 'I furnished the following notice of this bird to The Ibis of October 1891: - "After a severe gale in November, 1890, a number of seabirds which had been washed up dead on the outside of Walney Island were collected and taken to Williams, a working blacksmith, of Barrow-in-Furness. It was Williams who received the Spotted Eagle which was washed ashore at Walney in 1875, and I know that he has always been in the habit of stuffing a few of these birds; for example, when visiting him in November 1888, I found his house full of Guillemots and other birds that had just been brought to him from Walney.
On the present occasion the birds brought to him were various, but being hardly convalescent from influenza, and out at his work all day, he only skinned two Petrels, a Little Auk Alle alle, and one other bird. (The exact part of the island where the Petrels were found is the north-western beach, nearly opposite the windmill). He skinned these birds as well as he could, for they were not fresh, and put them by in a glass-topped box until I should call, which was not until the beginning of the following July. He then showed them to me, and offered to give them to me, as he considered that he could not mount such rough skins to his satisfaction. I had great difficulty in inducing him to accept half a sovereign for the birds, and he was then anxious to make me a present of a white Turdus iliacus, as he thought I was paying him too much. I at once recognised the smaller Petrel as Oceanites oceanicus; but not knowing the larger bird, I sent the two skins to Mr Osbert Salvin, F.R.S., just as I received them, the sand of Walney still adhering to their feathers, especially to those of the smaller bird. Mr Salvin, whose great kindness I specially desire to acknowledge, has not only identified the unknown bird as a typical example of Pelagodroma marina, which he thinks may perhaps breed in the Canary group, but has compared both skins with the British Museum series, and has further favoured me with some very valuable notes, of which I now avail myself.
Pelagodroma marina was first noticed during Captain Cook's first voyage, and a specimen obtained on the 23rd December 1768 in lat. 37° S., off the east coast of South America, about opposite the mouth of the Rio de la Plata. It was sketched by Parkinson, one of the artists who accompanied Captain Cook and Sir Joseph Banks in the Endeavour. This sketch is now in the British Museum, where it appears as 'No. 13' under Solander's unpublished name Procellaria oequorea, in a MS. volume called Banks's Drawings. It then became the Frigate Petrel of Latham's Synopsis, and the Procellaria marina of the same author's Index Ornithologicus.
The bird is now known to have a wide range in the southern hemisphere. Gould's collector Gilbert discovered it breeding on some of the small islands lying off Cape Leewin, southwestern Australia, in December, where he procured numbers of its eggs as well as many examples of the adult birds. He also met with it on a small island about three miles south of East Wallaby Island in January, when the young birds were almost ready to leave their holes (Gould, B. Austr. Vol. VII. pl. 61).
The most northern locality where P. marina has been observed hitherto is the Canary Isles. Here it would appear to be not common, though many observers have either procured specimens or recognised it when flying over the sea. The bird from these islands was named Procellaria hypoleuca by Webb and Berthelot. Mr Salvin concludes his notes by remarking that "the specimen from Walney Island agrees closely with examples from the South Seas and the Canary Islands now in the British Museum". I should be happy to submit the specimen to any brother member of the BOU who may entertain any desire to see it.
The man who found these birds subsequently left Barrow for Girvan. A fisherman named Gillespie, still resident at Barrow, saw the birds before they were taken to Williams, and says that, though taken together to Williams, they were found washed up on different days. As a matter of fact, the Wilson's Petrel was much staler than the other birds, and had probably been kept a few days at least longer than the Frigate Petrel.'
H. A. Macpherson of Carlisle (1893) in The Zoologist, 3rd series, Vol. XVII. pp. 150-151, says: 'Knowing the county, I have read with great interest your remarks on Mr Saunders's new edition of Mitchell's Birds of Lancashire....I may add, in reference to the Frigate Petrel, the remark that, although we have no proof that the bird ever saw the shores of Britain, yet there can be no doubt that it must have wandered to our coast, for the reason that, when washed ashore on Walney, it was fresh enough to make a very fair skin.'
It was accepted by Saunders (1899, 2nd ed.).
L. E. Hope (1923) in the Transactions of the Carlisle Natural History Society, Vol. III. p. 38, in the 'Appendix' to 'Lakeland Ornithology' read on 1st February 1923, says: 'It has now been established by Messrs. Witherby & Lowe that the Cumberland example of the White-faced or Frigate Petrel found dead on Walney Island, November, 1890, is the more northern form, P. m. hypoleuca, ranging to the Canary Islands.'
Admitted nationally (Witherby et al. 1940-52) and (Hollom 1960).
Comment In a review of all seabirds by W. R. P. Bourne (Ibis 109: 141-167) the BOU (1971) under 'Introduction' p. xiv, adopted his recommendations for this species, and found this record not proven.
