Petrels and Shearwaters
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of over 100 specimens of petrels, shearwaters and their relatives, plus 86 eggs. These date from 1868 to 1997.
This collection includes mounts, skins, skeletons and eggs. It represents at least 20 species, including albatrosses. The majority of the specimens are fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis), Manx shearwaters (Puffinus puffinus), storm petrels (Hydrobates pelagicus) and Leach’s petrels (Oceanodroma leucorhoa). Most of the specimens come from Scotland, although there are also some from England, Wales, Ireland, the Antarctic, Chile, the Falkland Islands, New Zealand and Sarawak. There are numerous fulmars and their eggs from the islands of St Kilda. Until the late 1800s St Kilda was the only locality for this species in the British Isles. Some species such as little shearwater (Puffinus assimilis) and the diving petrel (Pelecanoides sp.) are only represented by eggs. Of some note are two eggs of the giant petrel, collected during the 1902–1904 Scottish Antarctic Expedition led by oceanographer Dr William Spiers Bruce.
About petrels and shearwaters
Petrels and shearwaters (Procellariidae) belong to the order of seabirds Procellariiformes. This also includes albatrosses (Diomedeidae), storm petrels (Hydrobatidae) and diving petrels (Pelecanoididae). The distinguishing feature of birds in this order is that they all have distinctive nostrils and they are known as ‘tubenoses’ for this reason. - Broader term
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