Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-12-02
A STRANGER FROM THE SEA.
The Queer Passenger that Came to New
York and Could Not Stand City Life.
FROM tie Nelo Yort Sun.

FROM th6 Nelo YORK Sun.
Mister" said man in a sailors garb,
as he met reporter on South street yes
terday, don't you want to buy good
bird? Tll let you have him for 50, and
he's worth $50. Hes Mother Carey's
Chicken
The bird was confined in an awkwardlv
made wooden cage, 1t was a verltable
stormy petrol, or, In sailor language,
Smother Carey's Chicken" and very rare,
indeed, in the streets of New York: bur
he was hardly worth buying at any price,
for be was clearly dying. His eyes were
half closed, and the wings, accustomed TO
the touch Of the angry wave, were out
stretched on the floor Of the cage, las though
even deaths hand could not piniOn them
to his painting sides. So expanded they
covered q space Of about ten inches;
stretched to their full extent they would
probably have measured - inches from
tip to tip. The back was very dark gray
in color, the shade growing lighter on
the under parts Of the body, and
becoming a dirty, but unmistakable white
on the stomach. The feet and beak were
black.
Il got him comm around the Horn
from San Francisco, about four months
ago" said the sailor. cit was rs fine
weather as a seafarn' man would want
to look at. and we was MAXIM good run
for New York, when a flock OF Mother
Carey's chicks came flynn around the yes
sell SmOt til sailin' as it was then, every
man aboard knew, when he saw them
birds, that dirty weather was in their
wake, for they were born for no other pur-
pose than to tell the sailor when to short
en- sail and make all snug allow and alOft.
| They kept us company for about halt a
day. and at eight bells in the afternoon
all of them few away except one. He
stuck by the ship a couple of hours long
or, and then started off after his comrades.
suppose he couldn't find them, for as
day was breakIn' next mOrniu' he was
fiutterin' around the main riggin'. A few
minut afterward be flew down to the
deck, close to where | was standin', and
sat down with his wings spread out, just
as he's dOin' now, for that's him. | took
him up in my hand, and he didn't seem a
bit afeared, oily tired like. and maybe he
had travelled over a good bit of the world
since he had seen us last, for they fly fast.
1t was a new thing to see one OF Mother
Carey's chicks come aboard a ship and
act as tame and uncOncerned as an old
hen. Neither | nor any OF my mates had
ever seen the like Of 1t, and we thought it
a bad sign, for, you see, Mother Carey's
chicks only come around ship TO let her
know that wild weather is comm. They
don't wait to see it thems Ives, and the
good Lord only knows where they 90 to
when the storm breaks. This one, per-
haps, because he was young and foolish
and bit weak on the wing, came back to
the ship. And, my eyes how it blew all
that day and the next might. It nearly
shook the old hoOker's sticks out.
''When it was quite calm again | let
the chick 20. But, bless you, ne wouldn't
fly away. He just ran ed around the
ship for quarter Of an hour, and came
back to the deck. So got the carpenter
TO knock up a little cage for him. and
there he is. He can't sing like a
canary, or iabber ike a parrot, but
be has seen a great deal OF the widest
part OF the world, and il you want him
he's yours"
And the reporter gave 50 for him, de-
spite his physical condition, and chris
tened him Zingari, and he died inside of
half an hour.