252 BRITISH: “SEABIRDS: 
centre of busy towns. At this season it is also 
noticed a good deal about certain lighthouses at 
night. After rough nights I have seen odd Stormy 
Petrels flying over the fishermen’s cottages like 
swallows, and many of them are, or used to be, 
caught in the flight-nets in the Wash. The actions 
of this Petrel at sea are characteristic of its con- 
geners. It flies about in the same fluttering 
manner, following the curves of the waves, and 
pattering along their sloping surfaces with its tiny- 
webbed feet. It may be met with hundreds of 
miles from land, following ships, or paying a vessel 
a short visit, then disappearing again, lost in the 
lonely wastes of water. It is able to weather many 
a storm at sea, doubtless obtaining much shelter in 
the deep hollows of the mighty waves. It may be 
seen flitting about the storm-stirred sea quite at its 
ease; and from this fact, it is very popularly 
believed to be a harbinger of bad weather, and dis- 
liked accordingly by sailors. Except during the 
breeding season, the Stormy Petrel rarely visits the 
land; it rests and sleeps upon the sea, swimming 
just as buoyantly as a Duck. It is seldom seen to 
alight, however, unless to pick up some morsel of 
food, and rarely remains long upon the water. At 
its breeding stations it is certainly very nocturnal in 
its habits, but otherwise it may be seen at all hours 
of the day fluttering above the sea. Its food 
probably consists almost entirely of cuttlefish; I 
have dissected many specimens of this Petrel, and 
