STORMY PETREL. 169 



inspection, they proved to be a vegetable substance, 

 evidently the seeds of some marine plant, and about as 

 large as mustard seed. The stomach of one contained 

 a fish, half digested, so large that I should have sup- 

 posed it too bulky for the bird to swallow- another 

 was filled with the tallow which I had thrown over- 

 board, and all had quantities of the seeds already men- 

 tioned both in their stomachs and gizzards ; in the 

 latter were also numerous minute pieces of barnacle 

 shells. On a comparison of the seeds above mentioned 

 with those of the gulf-weed, so common and abundant 

 in this part of the ocean, they were found to be the 

 same. Thus it appears, that these seeds, floating 

 perhaps a little below the surface, and the barnacles 

 with which ships' bottoms usually abound, being both 

 occasionally thrown Up to the surface by the action of 

 the vessel through the water in blowing weathep, 

 entice these birds to follow in the ship's wake at such 

 times, and not, as some have imagined, merely to seek 

 shelter from the storm, the greatest violence of which 

 they seem to disregard. There is also the greasy dish 

 washings, and other oily substances thrown over bv 

 the cook, on which they feed with avidity, but with 

 great good nature, their manners being so gentle, that 

 I never observed the slightest appearance of quarrelling 

 or dispute among them. 



One circumstance is worthy of being noticed, and 

 shews the vast range they take over the ocean : In 

 firing at these birds a quill-feather was broken in each 

 wing of an individual, and hung fluttering in the wind, 

 which rendered it so conspicuous among the rest as to 

 be known to all on board. This bird, notwithstanding 

 its inconvenience, continued with us for nearly a week, 

 during which we sailed a distance of more than four 

 hundred miles to the north. Flocks continued to 

 follow us until near Sandy Hook. 



The length of time these birds remain on wing is 

 no less surprising. As soon as it was light enough in 

 the morning to perceive them, they were found roaming 

 about as usual ; and I have often sat in the evening, in 



