PELICANS, CORMORANTS, AND PETRELS. 263 
the water, and tracing the ship up again in the early morning by the 
trail of the débrzs left in its wake.” 
Wilson, writing of this habit, says,— 
‘‘ Jt is indeed an interesting sight to observe these little birds in a 
gale, coursing over the waves, down the declivities, up the ascents 
of the foaming surf that threatens to burst over their heads; sweep- 
ing along the hollow troughs of the sea, as in a sheltered valley, and 
again mounting with the rising billow, and, just above its surface, 
occasionally dropping their feet, which, striking the water, throw 
them up again with additional force; sometimes leaping, with both 
legs parallel, on the surface of the roughest wave for several yards 
at atime. Meanwhile they continue coursing from side to side of 
the ship’s wake, making excursions far and wide, to the right and to 
the left, now a great way ahead, and now shooting astern for several 
hundred yards, returning again to the ship as if she were all the 
while stationary, though perhaps running at the rate of ten knots an 
hour! But the most singular peculiarity of this bird is its faculty of 
standing, and even running, on the surface of the water, which it 
performs with apparent facility. When any greasy matter is thrown 
overboard, these birds instantly collect around it, and facing to wind- 
ward, with their long wings expanded and their webbed feet patting 
the water; the lightness of their bodies and the action of the wind 
on their wings enable them to do this with ease. In calm weather 
they perform the same manceuvre, by keeping their wings just so 
much in action as to prevent their feet from sinking below the sur- 
face.” 
On the Atlantic coast, the Wandering Albatross is 
said occasionally to reach northward as far as Florida; 
but there are other species that on the Pacific coast 
are quite common, as the “ Black-footed” and “ Short- 
tailed” species. The bird, however, is familiar by 
name to every one, and the reader of the “ Ancient 
Mariner” has doubtless fancied, more or less cor- 
rectly, what this strange bird is like. 
Nuttall says of it,— 
