286 
POPULAR HISTOEy OF BIRDS. 
other parts of the ocean about Cape Horn. In the voyages 
of Byron, Cook, and other navigators, it is often mentioned 
under the singular appellation of ^^The Race-horse/^ — a name 
given to it from its swiftness in moving over the surface of 
the water. Captain King, who described its habits in the 
^Zoological Journal^/ says that it would be no exaggera- 
tion to state its speed at from twelve to fifteen miles an 
hour. Modern sailors call this bird now The Steamer/^ 
the alternate and paddling motion of its wings somewhat 
resembling these inventions of modern ship-building. Its 
wings are very short, too short indeed to allow it to fly, 
and only serving to propel it along rather than through 
the water.''^ Its broad webbed feet aid it also much in its 
motion, which is described by Mr. Darwinf as being some- 
thing like that by which the common house-duck escapes 
when pursued by a dog.^^ Captain King describes them 
as being used like the paddles of a steam-vessel ; and Mr. 
Darwin also says, I am nearly sure that the ^steamer^ 
moves its wings alternately, instead of both together, as in 
other birds.''^ From the shortness of its wings and the 
small stiff feathers with which they are covered, and from 
the power which, King says, the bird has of staying a con- 
* Vol. iv. p. 100. t Journal of Researches, p. 257. 
