170 PROCELLARIA PELAGICA. 



the boat which was suspended by the ship's stern, 

 watching their movements, until it was so dark that 

 the eye could no longer follow them, though I could 

 still hear their low note of weet weet, as they approached 

 near to the vessel below me. 



These birds are sometimes driven by violent storms 

 to a considerable distance inland. One was shot some 

 years ago on the river Schuylkill near Philadelphia ; 

 and Bewick mentions their being found in various 

 quarters of the interior of England. From the nature 

 of their food, their flesh is rank and disagreeable; 

 though they sometimes become so fat, that, as Mr 

 Pennant, on the authority of Brunnich, asserts, " the 

 inhabitants of the Feroe Isles make them serve the 

 purposes of a candle, by drawing a wick through the 

 mouth and rump, which being lighted, the flame is fed 

 by the fat and oil of the body."* 



* British Zoology, vol. ii, p. 434. 



