THE SHEARWATER THE PETREL 215 



The Sparrow-Hawk, also, seem'd pleas'd to be there; 

 His garden to-day did not ask for his care. 



time, seldom seen near the shore ; braves the utmost fury of tiie 

 storm, skimming along with great velocity among the waves • 

 if seen hovering round the sterns of vessels, a presage of foul 

 weather. Seen occasionally on the various coasts of this 

 country, and sometimes far inland. One was lately taken at 

 Yarmouth, Norfolk; when killed, oil issued from the nostrils. 

 " Here ran the stormy-petrels on the waves 

 As though they were the shadows of themselves. — 

 They plough'd not, sow'd not, gather'd not in barns, 

 Yet harvests inexhaustible they reap'd 

 In the prolific furrows of the main ; 

 Or from its sunless caverns brought to light 

 Treasures for which contending kings might war: 

 From the rough shell they pick'd the luscious food, 

 And left a prince's ransom in the pearl." 



Montgomery's Pelican Island. 

 The Puffinus, Shearwater, Shearwater- Petrel, Mantes- Puffin, 

 or Lyre, is black above, beneath white ; length fifteen inches: 

 another variety, above cinereous, beneath white ; inhabits 

 southern and antarctic seas ; found also in the Hebrides, 

 Orkney Isles, and the Calf of Man, where they breed ; egg one, 

 white, laid in a rabbit burrow or other hole. The young are 

 taken in August, salted and barrelled, and, when boiled, eaten 

 with potatoes. The young of these, and some other of the spe- 

 cies, are fed by the oil discharged from their stomachs. Mi- 

 grates from the Scottish isles in autumn. 



The Vittuta, or Broad-billed Petrel, is bluish ash, be- 

 neath white ; inhabits the antarctic seas; twelve inches long; 

 flies in numerous flocks. The Urinatrix is blackish-brown ; be- 

 neath white; dives dexterously; inhabits round New Zealand 

 in numerous flocks ; eight and a half inches long. 

 The Glacialis, Fulmar-Petrel, or Fulmar, is whitish, back 



