STORMY PETREL. 521 
inch or so at the root; legs and naked part of the thighs, black; feet, 
webbed, with the slight rudiments of a hind toe; the membrane of the 
foot is marked with a spot of straw yellow, and finely serrated along 
the edges ; eyes, black. Male and female differing nothing in color. 
On opening these, I found the first stomach large, containing nu- 
merous round, semi-transparent substances of an amber color, which 1 
at first suspected to be the spawn of some fish; but on a more close 
and careful inspection, they proved to be a vegetable substance, evi- 
dently the seeds of some marine plant, and about as large as mustard 
seed. The stomach of one contained a fish, half digested, so large that 
I should have supposed it too bulky for the bird to swallow; another 
was filled with the tallow which I had thrown overboard; and all had 
quantities of the seeds already mentioned both in their stomachs and 
gizzards; in the latter were also numerous minute pieces of barnacle 
shells. On a comparison of the seeds above mentioned with those of 
the gulf-weed, so common and abundant in this part of the ocean, they 
were found to be the same. Thus it appears that these seeds, floating, 
perhaps, a little below the surface, and the barnacles with which 
ships’ bottoms usually abound, being both occasionally thrown up to 
the surface by the action of the vessel through the water in blowing 
weather, entice these birds to follow in the ship’s wake at such times, 
and not, as some have imagined, merely to seek shelter from the storm, 
the greatest violence of which they seem to disregard. There is also 
the greasy dish-washings, and other oily substances, thrown over by 
the cook, on which they feed with avidity, but with great good nature, 
their manners being so gentle, that I never observed the slightest 
appearance of quarrelling or dispute among them. 
One circumstance is worthy of being noticed, and shows the vast 
range they take over the ocean. In firing at these birds, a quill-feath- 
er was broken in each wing of an individual, and hung fluttering in 
the wind, which rendered it so couspicuous among the rest as to be 
known to all on board. This bird, notwithstanding its inconvenience, 
continued with us for nearly a week, during which we sailed a dis- 
tance of more than four hundred miles to the north. Flocks contin- 
ued to follow us until near Sandy Hook. 
The length of time these birds remain on wing is no less surprising. 
As soon as it was light enough in the morning to perceive them, they 
were found roaming about as usual; and [ have often sat in the even- 
ing, in the boat which was suspended at the ship’s stern, watching 
their movements, until it was so dark that the eye could no longer fol- 
low them, though I could still hear their low note of weet, weet, as they 
approached near to the vessel below me. 
These birds are sometimes driven by violent storms to a considera- 
ble distance inland. One was shot some years ago on the River 
Schuylkill, near Philadelphia ; and Bewick mentions their being found 
m various quarters of the interior of England. From the nature of 
their food, their flesh is rank and disagreeable; though they some- 
times become so fat, that, as Mr. Pennant, on the authority of Brun- 
nich, asserts, “ The inhabitants of the Feroe Isles make them serve 
the purposes of a candle, by drawing a wick through the mouth and 
rump, which, being lighted, the flame is fed by the fat and oil of the 
body.” * 
* British Zoology, vol. ii. p. 434. 
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