FORKED-TAILED PETREL. 
103 
fressing state of my stomach. On returning to the ship, my companions 
nimbly ascended the chains ; but although when on land I am pretty firm 
■ and active, I was now quite unfit for service, and therefore was hoisted in a 
chair. Once on deck, I laid myself down on a mattrass, my wife attended 
to me, and I gradually became relieved, as the ship stood, to use the words 
of my kind captain, “as still as if on the stocks.” There were the dead 
birds nicely arranged on a board by my side ; the wounded ones were placed 
in a cage, and I began to examine them all with care. To my great sur- 
prise, I found among them all the three species mentioned above. Sixteen 
of these birds were beautifully prepared by Mr. Ward, and the rest were 
placed in spirits, after I had made correct outlines of each species, and taken 
their exact dimensions and weight. The drawings, however, I was unable 
to finish on account of the giddiness, which seldom leaves me while at sea. 
The calm continued the whole of the next day, and, laying myself down on 
the top of the round-house, I had ample opportunities of observing the 
habits of the three species, while thus at a distance from land. 
My esteemed friend the Prince of Musignano has stated that the Forked- 
tailed Petrel is -less numerous near the American coast than the species 
named after Wilson. It is true that it rarely goes so far south, but in the 
vicinity of Massachusetts, and from thence to Newfoundland, it is by far the 
most abundant of the two ; and it breeds on all suitable places from the 
Islands of Mount Desert to the last mentioned country. 
The species of this genus with which I am acquainted all ramble over the 
seas, both by night and by day, until the breeding season commences, when 
they remain in their burrows, under rocks, or in their fissures, until towards 
sunset, when they start off in search of food, returning to their mates or 
young in the morning, and feeding them then. I feel pretty confident that 
these birds, like Owls, can hold out against hunger for many hours, and are 
satisfied with one abundant meal in the day. Wilson was of a different 
opinion, but I believe he never found these birds breeding. 
The Forked-tailed Petrel emits its notes night and day, and at not very 
long intervals, although it is less noisy than Wilson’s Petrel. They resemble 
the syllables pewr-wit, pewr-wit. Its flight differs from that of the other 
two species, it being performed in broader wheelings, and with firmer 
flappings, in which respect it resembles that of the Night Hawk, Chordeiles 
virginianus, while that bird is passing low over the meadows or the waters. 
It is more shy than the other species, and when it wheels off after having 
approached the stern of a ship, its wanderings are much more extended 
before it returns. I have never seen it fly close around a vessel, as the 
others are in the habit of doing, especially at the approach of night ; nor do 
] think that it ever alights on the rigging of ships, but spends the hours of 
