92 STORMY PETREL. 



sue; but he is not so ridiculously absurd as to suppose, that the 

 storm which follows is produced by the agency of these feeble crea- 

 tures, who are themselves equal sufferers by its effects with man. 

 He looks on them rather as useful monitors, who from the delicacy 

 of their organs, and a perception superior to his own, point out the 

 change in the atmosphere before it has become sensible to his 

 grosser feelings; and thus, in a certain degree, contribute to his 

 security. And why should not those who navigate the ocean con- 

 template the appearance of this unoffending little bird in like man- 

 ner, instead of eyeing it with hatred and execration ? As well might 

 they curse the midnight light-house, that, star-like, guides them on 

 their watery way, or the buoy, that warns them of the sunken rocks 

 below, as this harmless wanderer, whose manner informs them of 

 the approach of the storm, and thereby enables them to prepare 

 for it. 



The Stormy Petrels, or Mother Carey^s Chickens, breed in 

 great numbers on the rocky shores of the Bahama and the Bermu- 

 da islands, and in some places on the coast of East Florida and 

 Cuba. They breed in communities like the Bank Swallows, making 

 their nests in the holes and cavities of the rocks above the sea, re- 

 turning to feed their young only during the night, with the super- 

 abundant oily food from their stomachs. At these times they may 

 be heard making a continued cluttering sound like frogs during 

 the whole night. In the day they are silent, and wander widely 

 over the ocean. This easily accounts for the vast distance they 

 are sometimes seen from land, even in the breeding season. The 

 rapidity of their flight is at least equal to the fleetness of our Swal- 

 lows. Calculating this at the rate of one mile per minute, twelve 

 hours would be sufficient to waft them a distance of seven hundred 

 and twenty miles ; but it is probable that the far greater part con- 

 fine themselves much nearer land during that interesting period. 



In the month of July, while on a voyage from New Orleans 

 to New York, I saw few or none of these birds in the gulf of Mexi- 



