214 THE PETREL. 



day, many persons believe that its appearance at sea, 

 is the occasion of approaching evil, or at least that it 

 is a messenger sent to warn them to prepare for a 

 storm. 



Being often seen at a great distance from the land, 

 people who do not consider that it can fly eight or nine 

 hundred miles in a day, do not readily conceive where 

 it can rear its young, and hence the sailors think that 

 they hatch their eggs under their wings as they sit on 

 the water. 



It is hardly necessary to say that this poor little 

 bird is not the occasion of any evil to the sailor ; nor 

 does it hatch its eggs under its wing, as they believe. 

 It has, however, some habits peculiar to itself, and 

 particularly in respect to its flying about over the 

 ocean at such vast distances from the land. It is 

 also true that this bird is most frequently seen before 

 a storm, and during its continuance. At such times, 

 flocks of them hover around the ship, and are more 

 active than common in picking up any thing that hap- 

 pens to fall overboard, such as the refuse of provisions, 

 or any oily matter which the cook throws away. But 

 particular activity, and even marks of distress, before 

 a storm, are shewn by many birds. The instinct of 

 the crane, as has already been remarked, teaches her 

 to prepare for a coming storm, as well as when to 

 begin her annual flight. Snow bir$s are active in 

 searching for food before a storm. Woodpeckers, 

 curlews, and other birds, are particularly noisy at 

 the same time, and every housewife, when she has u 

 flock of geese, can foretel, by their actions, the ap- 

 proach of falling weather. 



