292 THE STORMY PETREL. 



deep black. It is found constantly on the coasts of this 

 country, and seems to be generally diffused over the 

 world. It lodges and nestles in holes of the rocks, or 

 in burrows which it makes for itself in the earth or 

 sands ; but it is a sea-bird, in the strictest meaning 

 of the term, not being found on the land, except 

 in the breeding season, or when it is driven there 

 by the violence of gales. Ordinary gales have not, 

 indeed, much effect upon it. It is small and swift, and 

 powerful on the wing ; and in appearance and manner 

 of flight, not unlike the swallow. It seems to take par- 

 ticular delight in storms, probably, because the motion 

 of the water brings to the surface the substances on 

 which it feeds ; and it skims along the hollows of the 

 waves, and through the spray upon their tops, with 

 astonishing rapidity, at the rate of sixty miles an hour, 

 as is supposed. The sailors dislike it, and account it 

 the harbinger of storms. That it is an accompanier of 

 them, may be true ; but it is more a follower of ships 

 than a forerunner of storms. Oil, of which there is 

 always a considerable quantity floating on the sea, 

 appears to be its favourite food ; and it is supposed 

 to collect that upon the feathers of its breast, as it rides 

 on the waters. It is for the greasy substances which 

 are thrown overboard, that it follows in the wake of 

 vessels, and it probably picks up molluscce, in the 

 stormy weather, when it skims the surface. It is very 

 easily tamed, and in that state it has been fed with train 

 oil, in which it dipped the feathers of its breast, and 

 then sucked off the oil with its bill, which goes far 

 to confirm the mode of feeding on the ocean that has 

 been mentioned. As the oil upon the surface of the 



