THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. 165 



to notice how very quickly a flock will collect, 

 though a few moments before scarcely one could 

 he seen in any direction ; and again they disperse 

 as speedily. They seem to have the power of dis- 

 pensing with sleep, at least for very long intervals. 

 Wilson, one of the most accurate of observers, has 

 recorded a fact illustrative of this : " In firing at 

 these birds, a quill-feather was broken in each wing , 

 of an individual, and hung fluttering in the wind, 

 which rendered it so conspicuous among the rest, as 

 to be known to all on board. This bird, notwith- 

 standing its inconvenience, continued with us for 

 nearly a weeic, during which we sailed a distance 

 of more than four hundred miles to the north." Of 

 course, if this individual had gone to sleep, the 

 vessel would have sailed away, and we can hardly 

 imagine that it would have again found her in her 

 pathless course. I do not believe they have ever 

 been known to alight on the rigging or deck of a 

 ship. 



It is a pity that so interesting a little creature as 

 this should become the object of a degrading and 

 meaningless superstition. The persuasion that they 

 are in some mysterious manner connected with the 

 creation of storms, is so prevalent among seamen, as 

 to render them, innocent and confiding as they are, 

 objects of general dislike, and often even of hatred. 

 I once made a voyage with a captain, who, though a 

 man of much intelligence, was not proof against this 

 absurd superstition, venting hearty execrations against 

 these " devil's imps," as he called them, in every 

 gale, as if they had been the malicious authors of 



