CHAPTER XXV 

 THE PETRELS 



PROPERLY speaking, several members of this 

 great family of marine birds have already been 

 dealt with by me, under the heading of albatross. 

 But I am not a stickler for adhesion to any scientific 

 division of birds into their varieties, and in considering 

 the Petrels my mind is mainly fixed upon one species 

 only, the tiny creature known as the Stormy Petrel, 

 or to sailors most affectionately and inconclusively 

 as the Mother Carey's Chicken. Why Mother Carey 

 or why chicken is a mystery. Who Mother Carey 

 may represent in the seafarer's mind I really cannot 

 imagine, unless she be Davy Jones's aunt ; but even 

 so, to compare the Stormy Petrel with a chicken, 

 either Mother Carey's or another's, has always seemed 

 to me a great error of judgment. I know and love 

 chickens thoroughly, but between them and the Stormy 

 Petrel there is not one single point of resemblance, 

 except that they are both birds. For the chicken 

 is essentially a domestic creature, delicate, full of 

 liabilities to ailments, needing great care and a snug 

 roosting-place every night, if it is to be kept alive. 



But the Stormy Petrel ! Tiniest yet sturdiest 

 of all sea-birds, ranging all over the wide, wild ocean, 

 hlting fearlessly under the curve of a mighty Cape 

 Horn sea, or skimming swaUow-like over the glassy 

 surface of the Equatorial Current ; equally at home 



368 



