25 
cf The membrane of the foot is marked 
with a spot of straw yellow, and finely 
serrated along the edges." 
" On opening several which I shot off 
the coast of Carolina, I found their first 
stomach large and to contain numerous 
seeds of the Gulf weed, so common and 
abundant in this part of the ocean, and 
which is about as large as mustard seed. 
The stomach of one contained a fish, half 
digested, so large that I should have sup- 
posed it too bulky for the bird to swallow; 
another was filled with the tallow which 
I had thrown overboard ; in their gizzards 
were numerous minute pieces of Barnacle 
shells. Thus'it appears that the seeds of 
the Gulf weed floating a little below the 
surface, and the Barnacles with which 
ships bottoms usually abound, being both 
occasionally thrown up to the surface by 
the action of the vessel through the water 
in blowing weather, entice these birds to 
follow the ship's wake at such times, and 
not, as some have imagined, merely to seek 
shelter from the storm, the greatest vio- 
lence of which they seem to disregard." 
