382 
STORMY PETREL. 
the wild and wasteful ocean ; flitting past the vessel like 
Swallows, or following in her wake, gleaning their scanty 
pittance of food from the rough and whirling surges. Habited 
in mourning, and making their appearance generally in greater 
numbers previous to or during a storm, they have long been 
fearfully regarded by the ignorant and superstitious, not only 
as the foreboding messengers of tempests and dangers to the 
hapless mariner, but as wicked agents, connected, some how 
each. It is from this that the P. pelasgica has been assigned a distribution so 
extensive. Some species are found in most latitudes, and from their similarity 
most observers seem to be unaware when they have passed the boundary of 
one, and entered the opposite limits of another form. 
They resemble each other in another propensity, — that of following the 
course of vessels, attracted by the shelter afforded in the wake, or retained by 
the small marine insects and seeds which are sucked into it, and the subsistence 
they may obtain from the refuse thrown overboard. Being most commonly seen 
when all is gloomy above, the view bounded by the horizon alone, or by a thick 
atmosphere and boisterous waves, and when they are the only beings visible, 
running on the “ trough of the sea,” 
As though they were the shadows of themselves. 
Reflected from a loftier flight through space, 
it can hardly be wondered at that associations with the spirits have arisen in 
the minds of men naturally prone, and sometimes wrought up, to superstition, 
and that they have begotten for themselves such names as are quoted by our 
author. These ideas are universal. Several small species about the Madeiras 
bear the name of Anhiga, — conveying the idea of their affinity to imps. 
Procellaria Bullocku has been described by Bonaparte, in the Journal 
of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, as an addition to the 
birds of America. It is stated to be but rare throughout the Atlantic Ocean, 
and to be found on the banks of Newfoundland. It is also European, and 
was first discovered by Mr Bullock, breeding at St Kilda, and ought now to 
stand under the name of its discoverer, Thalasidroma JBulloakii. They also 
sometimes occur on the mainland of Britain, and it is remarkable, that all those 
procured there, have been found in a dead or dying state, in some frequented 
place — often on the public road. It is expressly mentioned by M. Frecynet, 
in his voyage Autour du Monde, that the small Petrels cannot rise from a 
flat surface, — such as the deck of a ship. It is possible that the specimens 
discovered in this state of exhaustion, may have been unable again to resume 
their flight, and thus perished. Two specimens occurred in Dumfries-shire 
during the last year, — both found on the public road, . — the one dead, the 
other nearly so. — Ed. 
