THE OPEN SEA 83 



likely that it points to the way in which the 

 birds' feet go pitter-pattering as they touch the 

 waves in their flight. 



The Storm Petrel is a sooty-black bird, with 

 a little white about the tail and under the 

 wings, just over six inches in length, with long, 

 somewhat swift-like wings well-suited for 

 rapid flight, and with long legs, the meaning 

 of which is obscure. Its relationships are with 

 albatross, shearwater, fulmar, and the like, and 

 in nowise with the gulls. This is shown by the 

 fact that the horny bill is made up of numerous 

 pieces (taking our thoughts back to reptiles' 

 scales), by the curious drawing out of the two 

 nostrils into a double-barrelled tube, by the 

 single chalky-white egg with a few reddish- 

 brown spots, by the very long sooty-ash down 

 covering the nestling, and by many features 

 going much deeper. 



The Storm Petrel flies close to the waves 

 with its web-feet touching now and then, and 

 at other times it paddles about on the surface. 

 Its food consists of small fishes, crustaceans, 

 molluscs, and other Open-Sea animals. At the 

 nesting-time it seems to be fond of morsels of 

 sorrel! The crop contains a good deal of oil 

 which the bird vomits up forcibly when taken 



