G. HOOPER—birds: their nests and habits. 
103 
emissaries. A poetical description of tlie petrel occurs to me, a few 
lines of which I may be allowed to quote. 
“ O’er the deep, o’er the deep, 
Where the whale and the shark and the swordfish sleep, 
Outflying the blast and the driving rain, 
The petrel telleth her tale—in vain ; 
For the mariner curseth the warning bird 
Who bringeth the news of the storm.unheard. 
* * * * * 
“ Ah ! thus doth the prophet of good or ill 
Meet hate from the creatures he serveth still; 
Yet he never falters : so, petrel, spring 
Once more o’er the waves on thy stormy wing ! ” 
The petrel is the smallest of the race of gulls, and I pass from 
her to the largest, the albatross, whose wings extend 12 feet from 
tip to tip. She is the inhabitant of the southern, as the petrel is 
of the northern, seas. Her powers of flight are unequalled; with¬ 
out apparently moving her wings, but sailing as it were like a boy’s 
kite, she will accompany a ship day after day for thousands of 
miles. Little is known of her domestic economy, excepting that 
she is a deadly enemy to the flying fish, and preys indiscriminately 
upon any floating carcase she may find on the ocean. Unlike the 
petrel, she is considered a bird of good omen by that superstitious 
race, the sailors, who would consider any injury done to one as 
certain to bring misfortune. You will remember, in Coleridge’s 
weird tale of the “ Ancient Mariner ” : 
‘ ‘ At length did cross an albatross ; 
Through the fog it came : 
As if it had been a Christian soul, 
We hailed it in God’s name.” 
And immediately: 
‘ ‘ A good south wind sprung up behind; 
The albatross did follow, 
And every day for food or play 
Came to the mariners’ hollo ! ” 
Then the terrified listener: 
“ ‘ God save thee, ancient mariner ! 
From the fiends that plague thee thus; 
Why look’st thou so ? ’—‘ With my crossbow 
I shot the albatross.’ ” 
And you know what followed—-how the crew dropped down dead 
one by one, and the ship in the end was worked by dead men. 
“ The body of my brother’s son 
Stood by me, knee to knee ; 
The body and I pulled at one rope, 
But he said nought to me.” 
I have mentioned rooks. These birds are frequently confounded 
with crows; in Ireland and Scotland, indeed, they are only known 
by that name. Though not unlike in appearance, they differ in 
many material respects. The upper bill of the crow is furnished 
with coarse black hairs on its base, which, excepting in young 
