The Birds of an Eastern Voyage 



three times on, or rising from, the water. 

 Ancient tradition, had the bird been a European 

 one, would have made it the abode of some 

 spirit on which was laid the curse of eternal 

 wandering, for there is something uncanny about 

 the ceaseless, yet hurried, flight and solitary 

 appearance of this beautiful creature. The 

 storm - petrel, on the other hand, has not in 

 any way a striking or romantic appearance as 

 one meets him in the Atlantic and Mediter- 

 ranean, where he is a pretty constant attendant 

 in the ship's wake. He is commonly thought 

 of as " noctem hieme?nqtie f evens" — a bird of 

 storm and darkness, pictured as skating with 

 uplifted wings up and down huge billows. As 

 a matter of fact, he is constantly abroad on a 

 glassy sea under a glaring sun, and looks so 

 exactly like the house-martin, with his dark 

 plumage enlivened by a white spot on the back, 

 that most people would at the first glance take 

 him for that bird, so similar is the coloration, 

 size, and style of flight. Of course, the petrel 

 is dark below, not white like the martin, but 

 the former always flies low, and the latter under 

 these circumstances also looks nearly all black. 

 I have never seen the storm-petrel run along 

 the water, and not often seen it settle. Of 

 other petrels, one is certain to see some one or 

 other of the species of shearwaters, and these 



2 39 



