overhanging the lower like that of a bird of prey; head, back, and lower parts, brown sooty black; greater wing-coverts, pale brown, minutely tipt with white; sides of the vent, and whole tail-coverts, pure white; wings and tail, deep black, the latter nearly even at the tip, or very slightly forked; in some specimens, two or three of the exterior tail-feathers were white for an inch or so at the root; legs and naked part of the thighs, black; feet, webbed, with the slight rudiments of a hind toe; the membrane of the foot is marked with a spot of straw yellow, and finely serrated along the edges; eyes, black. Male and female differing nothing in colour.

On opening these I found the first stomach large, containing numerous round semitransparent substances of an amber colour, which I at first suspected to be the spawn of some fish ; but on a more close and careful inspection, they proved to be a vegetable substance, evidently the seeds of some marine plant, and about as large as mustard seed. The stomach of one contained a fish, half digested, so large that I should have supposed it too bulky for the bird to swallow; another was filled with the tallow which I had thrown overboard; and all had quantities of the seeds already mentioned both in their stomachs and gizzards; in the latter were also numerous minute pieces of barnacle shells. On a comparison of the seeds above mentioned with those of the gulf-weed, so common and abundant in this part of the ocean, they were found to be the same. Thus, it appears that these seeds, floating perhaps a little below the surface, and the barnacles with which ships' bottoms usually abound, being both occasionally thrown up to the surface by the action of the vessel through the water in blowing weather, entice these birds to follow in the ship's wake at such times, and not, as some have imagined, merely to seek shelter from the storm, the greatest violence of which they seem to disregard. There is also the greasy dish washings, and other oily substances thrown over by the cook, on which they feed with avidity, but with great good nature, their manners being

so gentle, that I never observed the slightest appearance of quarrelling or dispute among them.

One circumstance is worthy of being noticed, and shows the vast range they take over the ocean. In firing at these birds a quill-feather was broken in each wing of an individual, and hung fluttering in the wind, which rendered it so conspicuous among the rest as to be known to all on board. This bird, notwithstanding its inconvenience, continued with us for nearly a week, during which we sailed a distance of more than four hundred miles to the north. Flocks continued to follow us until near Sandy Hook.

The length of time these birds remain on wing is no less surprising. As soon as it was light enough in the morning to perceive them, they were found roaming about as usual; and I have often sat in the evening, in the boat which was suspended by the ship's stern, watching their movements, until it was so dark that the eye could no longer follow them, though I could still hear their low note of weet weet, as they approached near to the vessel below me.

These birds are sometimes driven by violent storms to a considerable distance inland. One was shot some years ago on the river Schuylkill near Philadelphia; and Bewick mentions their being found in various quarters of the interior of England. From the nature of their food, their flesh is rank and disagreeable; though they sometimes become so fat, that, as Mr Pennant, on the authority of Brunnich, asserts, "the inhabitants of the Feroe Isles make them serve the purposes of a candle, by drawing a wick through the mouth and rump, which, being lighted, the flame is fed by the fat and oil of the body."*

[Mr Ord adds, in his reprint, "When this work was published, its author was not aware that those birds observed by navigators in almost every quarter of the globe, and known

* British Zoology, vol. ii. p. 434.

under the name of Stormy Petrels, formed several distinct species; consequently, relying on the labours of his predecessors, he did not hesitate to name the subject of this chapter the Pelagica, believing it to be identical with that of Europe. But the investigations of later ornithologists having resulted in the conviction that Europe possessed at least two species of these birds, it became a question whether or not those which are common on the coasts of the United States would form a third species; and an inquiry has established the fact that the American Stormy Petrel, hitherto supposed to be the true Pelagica, is an entirely distinct species. For this discovery we are indebted to the labours of Mr Charles Bonaparte, from whose interesting paper on the subject, published in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, we shall take the liberty of making an extract. The author of the paper in question first describes and figures the true Pelagica of the systems; secondly, the Leachii, a species described by Temminck, and restricted to the vicinity of the island of St Kilda, but which the former found diffused over a great part of the Atlantic, east of the Banks of Newfoundland; and thirdly, the species of our coasts. He also indicates a fourth, which inhabits the Pacific Ocean; but whether or not this last be in reality a species different from those named, has not yet been determined.

"When I first procured this species,' says Mr Bonaparte, I considered it a nondescript, and noted it as such; the citation of Wilson's Pelagica, among the synonyms of the true Pelagica, by the most eminent ornithologist of the age, M. Temminck, not permitting a doubt of their identity. But having an opportunity of inspecting the very individual from which Wilson took his figure, and drew up his description, I was undeceived, by proving the unity of my specimens with that of Wilson, and the discrepancy of these with that of Temminck. The latter had certainly never seen an individual from America, otherwise the difference between the two species would not have eluded the accurate eye of this naturalist. I

propose for this species the name of Wilsonii, as a small testimony of respect to the memory of the author of the American Ornithology, whose loss science and America will long deplore. The yellow spot upon the membrane of the feet distinguishes this species, at first sight, from the others; and this character remains permanent in the dried specimens.""]

END OF VOLUME SECOND.

EDINBURGH:

Printed by ANDREW SHORTREED, Thistle Lane.