80 RAPIDITY OF FLIGHT. 



Such is the singular account given by an intelligent traveller, 

 to whom we are enabled to add a few particulars, partly con- 

 firming and partly contradicting it. The bird is called by the 

 Turks Armidau, and has been hitherto erroneously considered 

 a Kingfisher,* 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, t 

 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. "Actaeon" 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 direc- 

 tions 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 they are held by the Turks is that, in consequence 

 probably of their restless life, they are supposed to be bodies 

 animated by condemned souls, thus doomed for ever to frequent 

 the scenes of their former existence. 



From this superstition, in addition to the prevailing opinion 

 that they are Halcyons or Kingfishers, our classical readers may 

 be reminded of the fable of Ceyx and Halcyone — 



" Volabat 

 Percutiensque levem mod.6 natis aera pennis, 

 Stringebat summas ales miserabilis undas. 



Hos aliquis senior circum freta lata volantes 

 Spectat." 



— Ovid, Mctam., b. xi. 731. 



We cannot quit the subject of the flight of birds without 

 entering a little more at large upon one so closely connected 



* In Andreossi's work, Sur le Bosphore, it is termed Halcyon Voyageur. 

 t It is so closely allied to our Shearwater that it might easily be mis- 

 taken for it. 



