RAPIDITY OF FLIGHT. 85 



They fly very near the surface of the water; and if a 

 boat meets a flock of them, they either rise a few feet 

 over it, or it divides them like a wedge. Their flight is 

 remarkably silent; and though so numerous and so 

 close, the whirr of their wings is scarcely ever heard. 

 They are so abundant in the Sea of Marmora, that near 

 twenty flocks have been counted in a passage of a few 

 miles. One reason why they have escaped the close atten- 

 tion of naturalists, is, that no person is permitted to kill 

 any bird upon the Bosphorus without incurring the dis- 

 pleasure of the Turks, who, although very indifferent as 

 to the lives of human beings, are extremely averse to take 

 away the lives of animals*/' 



Such is the singular account given by an intelligent 

 traveller, to which we are enabled to add a few particu- 

 lars, partly confirming, and partly contradicting it. The 

 bird is called by the Turks, Armidau, and has been, 

 hitherto, erroneously considered a Kingfishert, from 

 which species it is, however, far removed, proving, on 

 examining a beautiful specimen in our possession, to be 

 of that family of birds well known to sailors by the name 

 of Mother Carey's chickens, and named the Cinereous 

 Petrel (Procellaria cinerea%). Agreeably to the habits 

 of the petrel tribe this species is rarely seen to settle, 

 though it does sometimes repose for a few moments on 

 the waves, or alight when attracted by food, an officer 

 of H. M.S. " Actseon," having actually caught one which 

 seized his bait hung over the stern, at the extremity of 

 a long line. A couple more were taken in a still more 

 singular manner. Two flocks flying with their usual 

 rapidity, in opposite directions, did not divide, but came 

 in contact, immediately above a boat belonging to the same 

 ship, with such violence, that a brace fell senseless into 

 the boat. An additional reason for the respect in which 



* WALSH'S Constantinople. See also Sketches in Greece. 



t In Anclreossi 's work, Sur le Bosphore, it is termed Halcyon Voya- 

 geur. 



$ It is so closely allied to our Shearwater, that it might easily be 

 mistaken for it. 



