6 1 TOR MY PE TREL. g 3 - 



solitary wanderers of the deep skimming along the surface of 

 the wild and wasteful ocean ; flitting past the vessel like 

 swallows, or following in her wake, gleaning 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, 



unaware when they have passed the boundary of one, and entered the 

 opposite limits of another form. 



They resemble each other in another propensity, — that of following 

 the course of vessels, attracted by the shelter afforded in the wake, or 

 retained by the small marine insects and seeds which are sucked into 

 it, and the subsistence they may obtain from the refuse thrown over- 

 board. Being most commonly seen when all is gloomy above, the view 

 bounded by the horizon alone, or by a thick atmosphere and boisterous 

 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 Anhiga, 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 America. It is 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 discoverer, 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 expressly mentioned by M. Frecynet, in his " Voyage Autour du 

 Monde," that the small petrels 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 may have been unable again to resume their flight, 

 and thus perished. Two specimens occurred in Dumfriesshire during 

 the last year, both found on the public road, — the one dead, the other 

 nearly so. — Ed. 



