384 
STORMY PETREL. 
the Petrel alone, but is noted in many others, and common to 
all, even to those long domesticated. The Woodpeckers, the 
Snow-birds, the Swallows, are all observed to be uncommonly 
busy before a storm, searching for food with great eagerness, 
as if anxious to provide for the privations of the coming 
tempest. The common Ducks and the Geese are infallibly 
noisy and tumultuous before falling weather ; and though, 
with these, the attention of man renders any extra exertions 
for food at such times unnecessary, yet they wash, oil, dress 
and arrange their plumage with uncommon diligence and 
activity. The intelligent and observing farmer remarks this 
bustle, and wisely prepares for the issue ; but he is not so 
ridiculously absurd as to suppose that the storm which follows 
is produced by the agency of these feeble creatures, who are 
themselves equal sufferers by its effects with man. He looks 
on them rather as useful monitors, who, from the delicacy of 
their organs, and a perception superior to his own, point out 
the change in the atmosphere before it has become sensible to 
his grosser feelings, and thus, in a certain degree, contribute 
to his security. And why should not those who navigate the 
ocean contemplate the appearance of this unoffending little 
bird in like manner, instead of eyeing it with hatred and 
execration ? As well might they curse the midnight light- 
house, that, star-like, guides them on their watery way, or the 
buoy, that warns them of the sunken rocks below, as this 
harmless wanderer, whose manner informs them of the approach 
of the storm, and thereby enables them to prepare for it. 
The Stormy Petrels, or Mother Carey’s Chickens, breed in 
great numbers on the rocky shores of the Bahama and the 
Bermuda Islands, and in some places on the coast of East 
Florida and Cuba. They breed in communities like the Bank 
Swallows, making their nests in the holes and cavities of the 
rocks above the sea, returning to feed their young only during 
the night, with the superabundant oily food from their stomachs. 
At these times they may be heard making a continued clut- 
tering sound like frogs during the whole night. In the day 
