382 DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSEUM. 



leagues from land, and they rest upon the waves. 

 The first genus is that of the procellaria, Lin., 

 which are also called tempest birds, because 

 they are seldom seen, except on the approach of 

 a storm. They build in the holes of rocks. The 

 largest of them (p. gigantea) has been called the 

 bone-breaker, from the strength of its beak. 

 That most spoken of by sailors is the procel- 

 laria capensiSy whose back is spotted with 

 black and white ; it is seen in great numbers in 

 the environs of the Cape. The smaller is more 

 particularly called the stormy petrel {p. pela- 

 gic a) ; some have been found carried by the wind 

 more than forty leagues inland. Below these are 

 the stercorarii, which eat the dung of sea-mews 

 and gulls. They are northern birds which visit 

 our coasts in winter. At the bottom of the case 

 is the genus albatross (diomeded) , which inhabits 

 the Austral ocean ; the largest has been called the 

 Cape sheep, on account of its size, its colour, and 

 gregarious habits ; its voice is said to resemble 

 that of an ass. 



The gulls and sea-mews, of which we have 

 twenty- two species in the fifty-first case, are 

 found in all latitudes ; they fly with rapidity near 

 the coasts, never stretching so far out as the 

 petrels ; they live on fish ; their plumage varies 

 according to the season, but is generally of an 



