534 NATATORES. THALASSIDROMA. PETREL. 



THESE birds, well known to mariners by the name of 

 " Mother Carey's Chickens *," and dreaded by them as the 

 forerunners of tempestuous weather, are indigenous in Bri- 

 tain, being found upon the surrounding seas at all seasons of 

 the year, and have been ascertained to breed, not only upon 

 the Shetland and other northern islands of Scotland, but 

 upon the rocky coast of the north-west of Cornwall, at the op- 

 posite extremity of the kingdom. The geographical distri- 

 bution of .this species has been supposed to be very extensive; 

 but the discovery of other species very closely allied to it 

 both in size and colour (and only to be distinguished by nar- 

 row inspection and comparison), in various parts of the At- 

 lantic and Pacific Oceans, makes it more than probable that 

 these latter have been mistaken for it, and that its distribu- 

 tion is in fact much more limited, being in all likelihood con- 

 fined to the European seas. That it should be oftener seen 

 by sailors during tempests or in the lowering weather imme- 

 diately preceding a storm, is only what might be expected 

 from the habits of the members of this genus, which, as I have 

 previously remarked, display more activity during the night 

 than the day. Its presence, then, is to be attributed to the 

 gloomy state of the atmosphere that attends such convulsions, 

 and it thus becomes generally what mariners consider it, the 

 natural harbinger of the storm. At such times, also, it ap- 

 proaches nearer to vessels, frequently flying round them like 

 a Swallow, or following in their wake, to all appearance more 

 for the purpose of picking up any food that may occasionally 

 Food, be thrown overboard, or from its natural food, the smaller 

 marine insects, molluscse, &c. being brought within its reach 

 by the action of the vessel, than for shelter and protection, 

 as it is observed to brave the roughest seas, and even to 

 amuse itself by skimming along the hollows of the waves, or 

 dashing over their summits with amazing velocity. It breeds 



* This title is not, however, restricted to the present species, but is 

 equally applied to Thalass. Bulloclcii, T. Wilsonii, T. oceanica, &c. which 

 closely resemble each other in appearance, and whose habits are similar. 



