SPOKT OF BUTE. 125 



connected the most perfect of the soft - billed 

 migrants of the air (the swift) with the hardest- 

 billed resident (the goldfinch) which collects food 

 on the ground. Like all God's works, there are 

 no gaps in ornithology one species glides into 

 another until they are dovetailed into one har- 

 monious whole. 



In crossing the Minch some years since, a little 

 dark bird was constantly flitting past our cutter 

 with all the characteristics of a swallow power- 

 ful wings, long tail, body thrown well forward, 

 and tapering like a canoe. Seamen have a super- 

 stitious dread that this sea-swallow brings storms, 

 and delights in them. But the truth is, that 

 " stormy petrels " dislike the tempest as much as 

 their neighbours, as it is only when the sea is 

 tolerably quiet that they can collect the chief 

 part of their food, which consists of the oily sub- 

 stance on the top of the waters. When the waves 

 rise, of course the surface of the sea is much in- 

 creased, which disperses the oil, and gives far 

 more trouble in collecting it ; add to which, the 

 birds are so light and buoyant, partly from their 

 greasy food, that, like the thistle-down, they ap- 



