WILSON'S PETREL. 487 



the full force of the tempest ; and now you have all come close beneath 

 me, where you glide over the curling eddies caused by the motion of the 

 rudder. You shall have all possible attention paid you, and I will crawl 

 to the camboose, in search of food to support your tiny frames in this 

 hour of need. But at length, night closes around, and I bid you fare- 

 well. 



The gale is over ; the clear blue of the sky looks clearer than ever, 

 the sun's rays are brighter, on the quiet waters the ship seems to settle in 

 repose, and her wings, though widely spread, no longer swell with the 

 breeze. At a distance around us the dusky wanderers are enjoying the 

 bright morning ; the rudder-fish, yesterday so lively, has ended its career, 

 so violently was it beaten by the waves against the vessel ; and now the 

 Petrels gather around it, as it floats on the surface. Various other mat- 

 ters they find ; here a small crab, there the fragments of a sea-plant. Low 

 over the deep they range, and now with little steps run on the waters. 

 Few are their notes, but great their pleasure, at this moment. It is need- 

 less for me to feed them now, and therefore I wiU return to my task. 



It would be extremely difficult for any individual to determine the 

 extent of the movements of the three species of Petrel seen on the waters 

 of the Atlantic. My opinion is that until their breeding places are re- 

 peatedly visited by naturalists, little can be known respecting the range 

 of their flight. I have crossed the ocean many times, and have always 

 paid more or less attention to these birds ; yet I ana as ignorant of their 

 mio'rations as my predecessors. I have rarely seen Wilson's Petrel farther 

 to the eastward than the Azores, and beyond these islands it generally 

 abandoned the vessel. Along the American coast, I have not met with it 

 to the northward beyond the 51st degree of latitude; while to the south- 

 ward I have rarely observed many on the Gulf of Mexico ; nor do I be- 

 lieve that any breed on the shores of the Floridas, or on the Bahama Is- 

 lands as alleo-ed by Wilson, who, it would appear, stated so from report. 

 Petrels are rarely destroyed by men, quadrupeds, or rapacious birds, when 

 breedino- ; to the former they are of no value as an article of food, and 

 by the latter they are seldom sought after ; consequently they are more 

 likely to return to their breeding places than most other birds, many of 

 which are frequently induced to abandon them on account of the perse- 

 cutions to which they are subjected. I have found the Forked-tailed 

 Petrel breeding on our coast, in the fissures of rocks above the reach of the 

 sprav, and Wilson's digging for itself burrows in the sand or loose earth, 



