82 
RAPIDITY OF FLIGHT. 
specimen in onr possession, to be of that family of birds well 
known to sailors by the name of Mother Carey’s chickens, and 
named the Cinereous Petrel ( JProcellaria cinerea .) # Agree- 
ably to the habits of the Petrel tribe, this species is rarely 
seen to settle, though it does sometimes repose for a few 
moments on the waves, or alight when attracted by food, — 
an officer of H.M.S. “ Actseon” having actually caught one 
which seized his bait hung over the stern, at the extremity of 
a long line. A couple more were taken in a still more 
singular manner. Two flocks flying with their usual rapidity, 
in opposite directions, did not divide, but came in contact, 
immediately above a boat belonging to the same ship, with 
such violence, that a brace fell senseless into the boat. An 
additional reason for the respect in which they are held by 
the Turks is, that, in consequence probably of their restless 
life, they are supposed to be bodies animated by condemned 
souls, thus doomed for ever to frequent the scenes of their 
former existence. 
Prom this superstition, in addition to the prevailing 
opinion that they are Halcyons or Kingfishers, our classical 
readers may be reminded of the fable of Ceyx and 
Halcyone. 
. . Yolabat 
Percutiensque levem modh natis aera pennis, 
Stringebat summas ales miserabilis undas. 
****** 
Hos aliquis senior circum freta lata volantes 
Spectat. 
Ovid, Metam ., b. xi. 731. 
We cannot quit the subject of the flight of birds, without 
entering a little more at large upon one so closely connected 
with it as migration, to which we have already briefly 
alluded ; for certainly, there is no instinct which seems to act 
upon them more forcibly, or which, after all, is so deeply 
involved in mystery. 
*, It is so closely allied to our Shearwater, that it might easily he 
mistaken for it. 
