82 KAPIDITY OF FLIGHT. 



specimen in our possession, to be of that family of birds well 

 known to sailors by the name of Mother Carey's chickens, and 

 named the Cinereous Petrel (Procellaria cinerea.}* Agree- 

 ably to the habits of the Petrel tribe, this species is rarely 

 seen to settle, though it does sometimes repose for a few 

 moments on the waves, or alight when attracted by food, 

 an officer of H.M.S. " Actseon" having actually caught"' one 

 which seized his bait hung over the stern, at the extremity of 

 a long line. A couple more were taken in a still more 

 singular manner. Two flocks flying with their usual rapidity, 

 in opposite directions, did not divide, but came in contact, 

 immediately above a boat belonging to the same ship, with 

 such violence, that a brace fell senseless into the boat. An 

 additional reason for the respect in which they are held by 

 the Turks is, that, in consequence probably of their restless 

 life, they are supposed to be bodies animated by condemned 

 souls, thus doomed for ever to frequent the scenes of their 

 former existence. 



From this superstition, in addition to the prevailing 

 opinion that they are Halcyons or Kingfishers, our classical 

 readers may be reminded of the fable of Ceyx and 

 Halcyone. 



Volabat 



Percutiensque levem modb natis ae'ra pennis, 

 Stringebat summas ales miserabilis undas. 



****** 



Hos aliquis senior circum freta lata volantes 

 Spectat. 



OVID, Metam.,1). xi. 731. 



We cannot quit the subject of the flrght of birds, without 

 entering a little more at large upon one so closely connected 

 with it as migration, to which we have already briefly 

 alluded ; for certainly, there is no instinct which seems to 

 act upon them more forcibly, or which, after all, is so deeply 

 involved in mystery. 



* It is so closely allied to our Shearwater, that it might easily be 

 mistaken for it. 



