STORMY PETREL. 



93 



CO, although our ship was detained there by cahns for twenty days, 

 and carried by currents as far south as cape Antonio, the western- 

 most extremity of Cuba. On entering the gulf stream, and passing 

 along the coasts of Florida and the Carolinas, these birds made 

 their appearance in great numbers, and in all weathers; contri- 

 buting much by their sprightly evolutions of wing to enliven the 

 scene; and affording me every day several hours of amusement. 

 It is indeed an interesting sight to observe these little birds in a 

 gale, coursing over the waves, down the declivities, up the ascents 

 of the foaming surf that threatens to burst over their heads; sweep- 

 ing along the hollow troughs of the sea as in a sheltered valley, 

 and again mounting with the rising billow, and just above its sur- 

 face, occasionally dropping its feet, which, striking the water, 

 throws it up again with additional force ; sometimes leaping, with 

 both legs parallel, on the surface of the roughest waves for several 

 yards at a time. Meanwhile it continues coursing from side to 

 side of the ship's wake, making excursions far and wide, to the 

 right and to the left, now a great way ahead, and now shooting 

 astern for several hundred yards, returning again to the ship as if 

 she were all the while stationary, tho perhaps running at the rate 

 of ten knots an hour ! But the most singular peculiarity of this bird 

 is its faculty of standing and even running on the surface of the 

 water, which it performs with apparent facility. When any greasy 

 matter is thrown overboard, these birds instantly collect around 

 it, and facing to windward, with their long wings expanded, and 

 their webbed feet patting the water, the lightness of their bodies 

 and the action of the wind on their wings enable them to do this 

 with ease. In calm weather they perform the same manoeuvre 

 by keeping their wings just so much in action as to prevent their 

 feet from sinking below the surface. According to Buffon,^ it is 

 from this singular habit that the whole genus have obtained the 



^ Buffon, tome xxiii, p. 299. 



VOL. VII. 



