NATURE AT SEA. 



71 



,#3335%, 



after hour for days at a time, without uttering a note or showing 

 the least sign of fatigue. 



Dauntless, brave-hearted little bird ! bred in the storm and 

 passing thy life on the ocean wastes. How nimbly you trip along 

 the surging waves, now hid in their deep valleys, or skimming 

 their crests, which you pat with your 

 slender webbed feet, as if to caress them 

 when ready to ingulf you ! 



We had not been at sea long before 

 these petrels found us out, and they fol- 

 lowed us hundreds of miles. At night I 

 heard, or thought I heard, low, crooning 

 notes from them, but was not sure this 

 mournful sound did not come from some 

 part of the ship's rigging. This is Wil- 

 son's petrel {Oceanites oceanicus),na,vaed 

 in honor of that great lover of the birds, 

 and well described by him in his Ameri- 

 can Ornithology. Wilson had an oppor- 

 tunity to study this species while com- 

 ing by sailing vessel from New Orleans 

 to New York. In order to examine them 

 more particularly he shot a number, not- 

 withstanding the superstitions of the 

 sailors, who lowered a boat and helped 

 him pick them up. These genii of the 

 storm remind you of the swallow, whose 

 graceful movement and power of wing 

 they have, but, unlike the latter, they 

 never soar above the turmoil of the sea. 

 Their plumage is of a nearly uniform 

 sooty-brown hue, excepting the tail cov- 

 erts, or feathers at the base of the tail, 



which are snow-white. The physiognomy of the bird is marked 

 by the beak, which points downward, thus enabling it to pick up 

 objects with greater ease from the surface of the water. These 

 delicate, soft-plumaged creatures are the scavengers of the sea. 

 Toss out a few scraps of food, and the object of their comradeship 

 is at once seen. Immediately their quick sense detects it, and all 

 from far and near collect about the floating object, making a little 

 dark cluster on the water. In thus taking their food they never 

 alight, but hover over it, standing tiptoe on the wave or lifting 

 their delicate black feet up and down as if dancing on the water. 

 From this characteristic performance the name petrel is said to 

 be derived from Saint Peter, in allusion to the story of his walk- 

 ing on the sea. 



Fig. 2. Portuguese Man-of- 

 war. 



