Roman 
roads in 
Cornwall. 
324 NATURAL HISTORY 
wings extended an inch beyond the tail ; the legs were flender ; 
the feet were webbed, with a fmall claw on each heel without a 
toe : they rove all over the Atlantic Ocean, and are feen on the 
coafts of America, as well as on thole of Europe, and many hun- 
dred leagues from each fhore. Their appearance is generally be- 
lieved by mariners to prognofticate a ftorm or bad weather, and I 
mull confefs I never faw them but in a troubled fea : they ufe their 
wings and feet with furprifing celerity ; their wings are long, and 
refemble thole oi fwallows, with which they are equally Ivvift, but 
ut makin & angles, or fhort turns in their flight, as fwallows 
do, but flie in a diredt line. Though their feet are formed for 
fwimming, they are likewife fo for running, which ufe they feem 
moft to put them to, being ofteneft in the adtion of running fwiftly 
on the furface of the waves in their greateft agitation, but with the 
afliftance of their wings.” To thefe obfervations Mr. Catelby adds 
its name from Clulius. The ingenious Mr. George Edwards (to 
whom the Natural Hillory of Birds is lo much indebted) juftly 
obferves (page 90) that t£ it is ftrange lo Imall a bird fhould be able 
to fubfift in fuch open feas, where they cannot reft but on the 
water, which is always pretty rough. Thofe I have feen were 
continually on the wing ; they appear not but in tempeftuous wea- 
ther, near fhips or land. Thele I law lereened themlelves out of 
the wind under the ftern of the veflel I was aboard of; they even 
leek fhelter lometimes in the deepeft hollows that are formed be- 
tween the high waves of the fea, and wonderfully keep their 
ftations there, though the waves run very fwiftly ; they flutter fo 
near the furface of the water, that they feem to walk on it ; for 
which realon, Mr. Albin lays, they are called Peterils, becaule they 
imitate Peter s walking on the lea.” Edwards of Birds, page 90 q . 
In the Antiquities of Cornwall, book iv. chap. v. page 301, 
feveral evidences of the Romans being in Cornwall, and having 
made publick roads here are produced, and many more will proba- 
bly appear upon farther fearch, attention, and enquiry, of which 
the following notes may be a corroborating teftimony : It is 
fuggefted, (Antiquities of Cornwall, page 305) that one Roman 
road at leafi: palled from the eallern parts through or near Truro; 
to confirm which, I find a tenement called Caerfos (alias Caerfofou) 
that is, the caftle or encampment on the Dyk or Fofs, by which 
names the ancient ways are too frequently called to need farther 
proof ; this tenement lies about a mile weft of Granpont, 
adjoining to the prefent high road to Truro which is about five 
miles diftant. 
1 Albins Hiftory 0 f Birds, vol. III. page 87, table 92. Dampier’s Voyages, vol. III. 
Crtvc Q7. 
“ There 
