STORMY PE TREL. 393 



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-feather was broken in each wing of an individual, and 

 hung fluttering in the wind, which rendered it so conspicuous 

 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 distance of more than four 

 hundred miles to the north. Flocks continued 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 I have often sat in the evening, in the boat which was sus- 

 pended by the ship's stern, watching their movements, until 

 it was so dark that the eye could no longer follow them, 

 though I could still hear their low note of weet, iveet, as they 

 approached near to the vessel below me. 



These birds are sometimes driven by violent storms to a 

 considerable distance inland. One was shot some years ago 

 on the river Schuylkill near Philadelphia ; and Bewick men- 

 tions their being found in various quarters of the interior of 

 England. From the nature of their food, their flesh is rank 

 and disagreeable, though they sometimes become so fat, that, 

 as Mr Pennant, on the authority of Brunnich, 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." * 



[Mr Ord adds, in his reprint, "When this work was pub- 

 lished, its author was not aware that those birds observed by 

 * British Zoology, vol. ii. p. 434. 



