PALMIPEDES. 367 



FAMILY II. THE LONG-WINGS. 



Very different from the last, the birds before us 

 are remarkable for their long-sustained, swift, and 

 vigorous flight, confiding in which, they launch fear- 

 lessly forth into " the desert and illimitable air," 

 sweeping over the ocean many hundred miles from 

 land. In crossing the Atlantic in various directions, 

 and in its widest part, we have seen the Gulls and 

 Petrels as constant companions in every part of our 

 course. They are, in fact, found in every ocean, and 

 on every shore. The length of their wings is their 

 chief distinction ; the hind toe is either almost or al- 

 together wanting, yet they are expert at walking. 

 The bill in some is hooked at the end, and in others 

 simply pointed. 



Procellariaj* the Petrel. 



The Stormy Petrel (P. Pelagica\] is peculiarly the 

 sailor's bird ; rarely visiting the land, and confining 

 its visits to the cliffs and rocks of the coast, it tra- 

 verses the wide ocean on untiring wing, and fails not 

 to cultivate acquaintance with every passing bark 

 that crosses its course. It has been the subject of an 

 unfounded superstition among seamen, that, in some 

 unknown mode, it is connected with the production 

 of tempests ; which has been palliated by the asser- 

 tion that "it is peculiarly numerous immediately 



* Procella, a tempest. f HtXayof, pelagos^ the sea. 



