312 ANSERES. PROCELLARIAD^E. 



to the right and to the left, now a great way 

 a-head, and now shooting astern for several hun- 

 dred yards, returning again to the ship as if she 

 were all the while stationary, though perhaps run- 

 ning at the rate of ten knots an hour. But the 

 most singular peculiarity of this bird is its faculty 

 of standing, and even running on the surface of 

 the water, which it performs with apparent faci- 

 lity. When any greasy substance is thrown over- 

 board, these birds instantly collect around it, and, 

 facing to windward, with their long wings ex- 

 panded, and their webbed feet patting the water, 

 the lightness of their bodies, and the action of the 

 wind on their wings, enable them to do this with 

 ease. In calm weather they perform the same 

 manoeuvre, by keeping their wings just so much 

 in action, as to prevent their feet from sinking 

 below the surface." * 



Wilson appears to have had no knowledge of 

 the domestic economy of this bird, but Audubon 

 informs us that it breeds on some small islands 

 near the southern extremity of Nova Scotia, 

 formed of sand and light earth, scantily covered with 

 grass. Thither the birds resort in great numbers 

 about the beginning of June, and form burrows 

 about two feet deep, in the bottom of which each 

 female lays a single white egg, as large as that of 

 a pigeon, but more oblong. A few pieces of dried 

 grass form the only apology for a nest. The 

 young are able to follow their parents in their sea- 

 ward flights by the beginning of August. 



The present species appears to affect the Ame- 

 rican more than the European side of the Atlantic 



* Wilson's Amer. Ornith. (Edin. 1831), iii. 166. 



