240 BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIBTY. 
do not live in the air like the gulls, but on the water, floating very 
happily on the waves and constantly diving in pursuit of fish. These 
birds also leave us as soon as we are fairly out of the Irish Channel. 
Then the stormy petrels appear and scarcely leave us till we reach 
Port Said. All day they are on the wing in the wake of the steamer, 
skimming the water with all the power and grace of swallows. In 
fact, at a very short distance they are so absurdly like the common 
black and white swift, which makes its feather nests under the 
porches of our public buildings here in India, that the first time I 
saw them I exchanged views with a fellowepassenger, who was also, 
a naturalist, upon the remarkable phenomenon of a swift taking to a, 
marine life. Where these petrels go at night I cannot say. During 
the day they are very rarely seen to rest on the water. Mr. Wilson 
records an instance of one which was shot at from a ship, with the 
result that two of its quill feathers were broken, and their ends 
hanging. down, made it easily recognisable afterwards. For a whole 
week that bird continued to follow the ship, If it had stopped to, 
sleep for even an hour it could scarcely by any chanee have found the. 
ship again, and as they never rest on the rigging or any part of the. 
ship, it seems that this bird must have been on the wing night and day 
for a week with nointermission, except, perhaps, an occasional rest on 
the water fora few moments. Ihave watched them with a powerful 
glass to see if I could ascertain what they fed on, but could not satisfy 
myself. Undoubtedly they do sometimes, like gulls, pick up scraps 
of food thrown overboard, but from, the persistent way in which they 
beat up and down the line of seething water which flows from the 
stern of the steamer, I have got the impression that they are on 
the watch for small marine creatures killed or tossed to the surface 
by the action of the screw. I should like to, know. whether they 
follow sailing vessels in the same way. I must not forget to 
mention that I saw one petrel on this side of Aden, which, I suppose, 
was Wilson’s petrel (Oceanites ocvanica), After passing Cape 
Finisterre, whales are often seen spouting, but they rarely come 
near enough to. a steamer to be distinctly seen. A few. years ago, 
however, one of the B. I. {5. N. Company’s steamers, coming 
from Kurrachee to Bombay, was accompanied for a whole day by a 
whale, which came so near, I believe, as almost to rub against it. 
Some of the passengers or officers, following the true Englishman’s 
instinct of killing, fired rifle balls into it. I do not remember 
whether the whale showed any signs of being aware of this. Curious 
, 
