STORMY PETREL. 
259 
tonio, the westernmost 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; contributing much, by their sprightly evo- 
lutions 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; sweeping along the 
hollow troughs of the sea, as in a sheltered valley, and again 
mounting with the rising billow, and, just above its surface, 
occasionally dropping their feet, which, striking the water, 
throw them 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 they continue 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, though per- 
haps 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 over- 
board, 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 name Petrel, from the apostle Peter, who, as Scripture in- 
forms us, also walked on the water. 
As these birds often come up immediately under the stern, 
* Tome xxiii, p. 299. 
