THE STORMY PETREL. 



BIRDS. - THE FULMAR. 



427 



Australia, and at the Cape of Good Hope. It is a 

 rather large species, about eighteen inches in length, 

 and of a sooty-black colour, with the throat white. 



THE STORMY PETREL (Procellaria pelagica)fig. 

 134 is the smallest species of the present order, 

 measuring less than sixinches in length. It is of a ciooty- 

 black colour, with the outer margins of the tertiary quills, 

 the upper tail-coverts, and the sides of the vent white. 

 The bill and feet are black. This bird is found in all 

 parts of the European seas, and wanders about all over 



Fig. 134 



The Stormy Petrel (Procellaria pelagica). 



the Atlantic ocean, depending, however, upon its long, 

 pointed, and powerful wings for its rapid movements 

 from place to place. Even in stormy weather the 

 Petrels, notwithstanding their small size, are very active, 

 flying along over the surface of the waves, with their 

 feet close to, or dipping in the water ; indeed, the 

 sailors believe that it is principally at the approach of 

 a storm that these birds make their appearance, and 

 they are known amongst mariners by the names of 

 Devil's birds and Mother Carey's chickens. The name 

 of Petrel is supposed to be a diminutive of Peter, and 

 to be given to the birds in allusion to their apparently 

 walking on the surface of the water, as the apostle did 

 on the lake of Gennesareth. The food of the Petrels 

 consists of small fishes, Crustacea, mollusca, and other 

 marine animals ; and they will also follow ships for con- 

 siderable distances in order to pick up any fragments 

 of food that may be thrown overboard. This bird 

 breeds amongst the stones and debris of rocks on our 

 coasts, generally on small islands, and the female lays 

 only a single egg. Upon this she sits so closely, that 

 she may readily be taken by hand j when thus treated, 

 she vomits a quantity of oil, which is collected for 

 burning in many places. Many other species of these 

 birds, all of small size, occur in various seas ; three of 

 them are met round the British coasts. 



THE GIANT PETREL (Ossifmgus girjanteus), an 

 inhabitant of the Great Southern ocean, is a truly 

 gigantic species, when compared with the diminutive 

 birds just mentioned, being about twenty-eight inches 

 in length. Its plumage is blackish-gray above, and 

 paler gray beneath, with the head and neck dirty white. 



THE CAPE PETREL (Daption capensis) measures 

 thirteen inches in length, and has the upper surface 

 speckled with black and white, and the lower parts 

 white. From its spleckled plumage it is sometimes 

 called the Pintado Petrel, and it is well known to 

 sailors under the name of the Cape Pigeon. This bird 

 is met with abundantly at the Cape of Good Hope and 

 also in other parts of the Great Southern ocean. 



THE FULMAR (Fulmarus glacialis), a British 

 species, very nearly allied to the preceding, is most 

 abundant ia the arctic seas of both hemi- 

 spheres, where it satisfies its voracious 

 appetite by devouring anything that comes 

 in its way on the surface of the water. 

 During the summer it is a constant com- 

 panion of the whale-fishers, when they are 

 engaged in cutting the blubber off their 

 captures ; any fragments which fall into the 

 water during this operation, are immediately 

 snapped up by the watchful birds. Their 

 squabbling on. these occasions is said to 

 be very amusing. The Fulmar breeds on- 

 rocky coasts, selecting the ledges of lofty 

 and inaccessible precipices for this purpose. 

 It lays a single egg either in a rude nest,, 

 or in a depression in the turf clothing th& 

 ledge, and so numerous are the birds in 

 some localities, that the whole face of the 

 cliffs seems to be covered with them. The 

 eggs are taken in great numbers by the 

 inhabitants of the vicinity, who esteem them 

 highly as an article of food; and both the old and 

 young birds when seized emit a quantity of clear amber- 

 coloured oil, which is collected like that of the Petrel 

 above mentioned. The young birds also are very fat, 

 and are boiled down in great quantities for the sake of 

 the oil they furnish. 



THE BROAD-BILLED PETREL (Prion wttatus). 

 This bird, with a few nearly-allied species, is an 

 inhabitant of the Southern ocean, in many parts of 

 which it is met with abundantly. It is distinguished 

 by the broad and depressed form of the bill, but in its 

 habits appears to resemble the preceding species. 



THE WANDERING ALBATROSS (Diomedea exu- 

 lans). The Albatrosses, of which several species are 

 met with in the Pacific and Southern oceans, are dis- 

 tinguished from the preceding birds of this family 

 by the position of the nostrils, which form a pah- of 

 short tubes, projecting from the sides of the upper 

 mandible near its base. They, are all. large birds, and 

 strictly oceanic in their habits, scarcely ever approach- 

 ing the shores, except in the breeding season. 



The present species is the largest, and is known to 

 the sailors by the names of the Cape Sheep, and the 

 Man-of-war bird. It is an inhabitant of the Southern 

 ocean generally, and flies almost incessantly over the 

 surface of that stormy sea, supported upon its ample 

 and apparently untirable pinions, which in large speci- 

 mens cover a space of fully fifteen feet. In this way 

 the Albatross passes rapidly along just above the 

 surface of the waves, and ready at any moment to 

 plunge down upon the passing fishes, of which its 

 voracious appetite leads it to consume immense q.uan- 



