PELICANS, CORMORANTS, AND PETRELS. 263 



the water, and tracing the ship up again in the early morning by the 

 trail of the dtbris left in its wake." 



Wilson, writing of this habit, says, 



" It 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 a time. 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 manreuvre, 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, 



