THE STORMY PETREL. 291 



some probability that the cod, and other fish of the 

 same structure, take two years, or more, to produce 

 their immense progeny ; and that thus there is not a 

 fish in the sea but which is in season all the year, if its 

 place of residence, and the mode of taking it, were 

 known. It is by these general views, that the particular 

 facts are made to connect themselves with the system 

 of nature, and lead to useful discoveries in the arts. 



When the fish are upon the shores and in the estu- 

 aries, nay, when they are upon the wide ocean, they 

 have a host of enemies. All fishes seem to be them- 

 selves omnivorous consuming every thing that they 

 can swallow ; and the number of sea-birds is perfectly 

 incredible. The numbers that are upon the uninhabited 

 islets in Orkney, Shetland, and the Western isles, as 

 well as at those inaccessible promontories on other parts 

 of the coast, would exceed the belief of any one who 

 has not actually seen them, and yet they are nothing 

 to the numbers found in lonely places, surrounded by 

 more extensive seas. One of the most abundant, and 

 the one which is found farthest out at sea, is 



THE STORMY PETREL. 



THE STORMY PETREL, (procellaria pelagica,) or, 

 " Mother Gary's Chicken" has been found in flocks, 

 which, from the extent that they occupied, and the close- 

 ness with which they were serried together, could not 

 contain less than one hundred and fifty millions. It is 

 a bird about five inches and a half long ; sooty black on 

 the body, and white on the rump, tail, and wings ; but 

 having the principal feathers of these tipped with 

 2 c 2 



