518 STORMY PETREL. 
the deep, skimming a.ong the surface of the wild and wasteful ocean ; 
flitting past the vessel like Swallows, or following in her wake, glean- 
ing their scanty pittance of food from the rough and whirling surges. 
Habited in mourning, and making their appearance generally in greater 
numbers previous to or during a storm, they have long been fearfully 
regarded by the ignorant and superstitious, not only as the foreboding 
messengers of tempests and dangers to the hapless mariner, but as 
wicked agents, connected, some how or other, in creating them. «“No- 
body,” say they, “can tell any thing of where they come from, or how 
they breed, though (as sailors sometimes say) it is supposed that they 
hatch their eggs under their wings as they sit on the water.” This 
mysterious uncertainty of their origin, and the circumstances above re- 
_ cited, have doubtless given rise to the opinion so prevalent among this 
class of men, that they are in some way or other connected with that 
personage, who has been styled the Prince of the Power of the Air. 
_In every country where they are known, their names have borne some 
affinity to this belief. They have been called Witches,* Stormy Pe- 
trels, the Devil’s Birds, Mother Carey’s Chickens,t probably from some 
celebrated ideal hag of that name ; and their unexpected and numer- 
ous appearance has frequently thrown a momentary damp over the 
mind of the hardiest seaman. 
It is the business of the naturalist, and the glory of philosophy, to 
examine into the reality of these things; to dissipate the clouds of 
error and superstition, wherever they begin to darken and bewilder the 
human understanding, and to illustrate nature with the radiance of 
truth. With these objects in view, we shall now proceed, as far as 
the few facts we possess will permit, in our examination into the his- 
tory of this celebrated species. 
from the refuse thrown overboard. Being most commonly seen when all is gloomy 
above, the view bounded by the horizon alone, or by a thick atmosphere and bois- 
terous waves, and when they are the only beings visible, running on the “ trough of 
the sea,” 
‘ As though they were the shadows of themselves, 
Reflected from a loftier flight through space, 
it can hardly be wondered at, that associations with the spirits have arisen in the 
minds of men naturally prone, and sometimes wrought up, to superstition, and that 
they have begotten for themselves such names as are quoted by our author. These 
ideas are universal. Several small species about the Madeiras bear the name of An- 
higa, — conveying the idea of their affinity to imps. , 
Procellaria’ Bullockii has been described by Bonaparte, in the Journal of the 
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, as an addition to the birds of Amer- 
ica. Its stated to be but rare throughout the Atlantic Ocean, and to be found on 
the banks of Newfoundland. It is also European, and was first discovered by Mr. 
Bullock, breeding at St. Kilda, and ought now to stand under the name of its dis- 
coverer, Thalasidroma Bullockii. ‘They also sometimes occur on the mainland of 
Britain, and it is remarkable, that all those procured there, have been found in a 
dead or dying state. in some frequented place — often on the public road. It is ex- 
Seas mentioned by M. Frecynet, in his voyage Autour du Monde, that the small 
etrels cannot rise from a flat surface, —such as the deck of a ship. It is possible 
that the specimens discovered in this state of exhaustion, miay have been unable 
‘ain to resume their flight, and thus perished. ‘Two specimens occurred in Dum- 
fries-shire during the last year, —both found on the public road,— the one dead, 
the other nearly so. — Ep. 
* Arctic Zoology, p. 464. ; 
+ This name seems to have heen originally given them by Captain Carteret’s 
sailors, who met with these birds on the coast of Chili. See HawkrsSworTH’s 
Voyages, vol. i. p. 203. * 
