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, some- 

 what 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 



