90 AUDUBON 



difference in the sexes, either in size or color; they are 

 sooty black above, and snowy white below. The exact 

 measurements are in my memorandum-book. 



June 29. This morning we came up with the ship 

 " Thalia," of Philadelphia, Captain John R. Butler, from 

 Havana to Minorca up the Mediterranean, with many 

 passengers, Spaniards, on board. The captain very 

 politely offered us some fruit, which was gladly accepted, 

 and in return we sent them a large Dolphin, they having 

 caught none. I sent a Petrel, stuffed some days previ- 

 ously, as the captain asked for it for the Philadelphia 

 Society of Sciences. 



June 30. Whilst sailing under a gentle breeze last 

 night, the bird commonly called by seamen "Noddy" 

 alighted on the boom of the vessel, and was very soon 

 caught by the mate. It then uttered a rough cry, not 

 unlike that of a young crow when taken from the nest. 

 It bit severely and with quickly renewed movement of 

 the bill, which, when it missed the object in view, snapped 

 like that of our larger Flycatchers. I found it one of the 

 same species that hovered over the seaweeds in company 

 with the large Petrel. Having kept it alive during the 

 night, when I took it in hand to draw it it was dull look- 

 ing and silent. I know nothing of this bird more than 

 what our sailors say, that it is a Noddy, and that they 

 often alight on vessels in this latitude, particularly in the 

 neighborhood of the Florida Keys. The bird was in 

 beautiful plumage, but poor. The gullet was capable of 

 great extension, the paunch was empty, the heart large for 

 the bird, and the liver uncommonly so. 



A short time before the capture of the above bird, a 

 vessel of war, a ship that we all supposed to be a South 

 American Republican, or Columbian, came between us 

 and the " Thalia," then distant from us about one and a 

 half miles astern, fired a gun, and detained her for some 

 time, the reason probably being that the passengers were 



