64-2 CLASS AVES. 



light. These facts could only have been observed on 6Uch 

 individuals as sojourn on the European coasts ; but they 

 agree very little with the accounts of navigators, who have 

 seen them, at all hours of the day, on remote seas. The 

 flight of these birds is so rapid, that the eye follows them with 

 difficulty. When the sky is overcast, they approach vessels, 

 and in tempests, take refuge on the poop. It is a common 

 prejudice of sailors, that their presence, at any time, denotes 

 a coming storm ; but this is denied by MM. Quoy and 

 Gaimard. Still, it must be observed, that the extent of their 

 wings, so favourable for flight in serene weather, is much 

 ag'ainst them when the wind is violent, of which they then 

 become the sport, and often the victims. It is natural 

 enough, therefore, when they perceive the first approaches of 

 the tempest, that they should endeavour to anticipate it, and 

 seek foi' refuge. When they cannot have recourse, in such 

 cases, to vessels, they will shelter themselves in the deep 

 hollows between two swelling waves, and remain there some 

 instants, notwithstanding the rapid rolling of the sea. They 

 run in those moveable furrows of the ocean, as larks do in 

 those of the fields, and, balanced on their wings, they skim 

 the surface of the water, striking it rapidly with their feet. 

 One species, the Stormy Petrel, is familiar to sailors, under 

 the name of Mother Gary's Chicken. 



We must pass over the divisions Puffinus, Halodroma, 

 and Pachyptila, whose habits and manners are the same as 

 we have just described, and proceed at once to the Alba- 

 trosses. 



These birds, whose habitual dwelling is the Austral Ocean, 

 are the heaviest of all the tribe of the palmipedes. In spite, 

 however, of their strength and their trenchant bill, they are 

 by no means warlike. They even remain on the defensive 

 against some of the gull tribe, which harass them, and attempt 

 to attack them under the belly. To get rid of these adver- 



