The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-01-25
WILSON'S PETREL.

Almost every one who has made a
 voyage across the Atlantic will remem-
 winged black birds which skinned the
 water swallow-like in the wake of the
 vessel, and which the sailors called
 Mother Carey's chickens These
 were petrels, of which there are several
 species to be seen off our Atlantic coast,
 al, having the same general appearance
 and habits. and all rejoicing in such
 significant names as Witches Dew
 l's Birds" and Stormy Petrels.
 From ancient times these birds have
 been regarded with superstitious awe
 by ignorant sailors, many of whom even now hold them responsible for
 storms and other dangers with which
 they are coincident. The feeling of
 dread which they have inspired has
 been added to by their black plumage
 and by their almost supernatural pow
 CTS of flight It was said that they nev-
 CT set foot upon the land, even to rear
 their young, that they matched their
 eggs under their wings as they sat upon
 the water.
 The commonest of the several species
 to be met With in the western Atlantic
 is Wilson's petrel, a sooty black bird
 about seven inches long, with a white trump, grayish wing coverts, black bill and legs, and black feet with yellow
 webs. In February this famous bird lays it's one white egg and rears it's young in the crevice of rock on Ker- ;,1n n,,I nF thn South Atlantic, and then, the trials of the breeding season over, 1t journeys northward, to make it's home upon the ocean off our eastern coast. Here may be seen, in fair weather and foul, often l hundreds of miles from the nearest land, following the swiftest vessels as consistently and much more easily than carriage dog follows a carriage.
 Petrels seem to court bad weather rather than avoid it, and they are usu- ally more numerous just before and during gale, and it Is from this fact that they received their descriptive name stormy" Sometimes ahead of a vessel, sometimes behind it, away they tack, now to port now to starboard, re- minding one of swallows in their easy,
 
 the more fun they seem to have. Some times they skim along just above the water, barely grazing the white crests of rising pillows and again they course madly along the hollow of some shel tered trough of the sea. Again they will ride at a towering wave as they might at a mountain side, and using their feet and wings together, advance by skips and leaps to the summit. to disappear the next moment as though engulfed forever. During all these manoeuvres they keep bright lookout for food. At times they capture fish and often they pick up the floating seeds of marine plants. They also watch closely for the scraps thrown overheard from the vessel they are fol- lowing, and often they may be seen winging their way close under the stern, waiting for the refuse which is sure to be theirs sooner or later When some promising object somes swirling upward from the writhing twisting wa ters of the wake, the expectant petrels | drop far astern and fiutter above it like 1 great black butterflies. There is a gen tie rivalry amongst them as they gath l CT to pick up the food, but they never | quarrel over it, and as soon as it is | gone, they speed towards the ship again | like greyhounds fresh slipped from the leash, It makes no difference to them she is some clumsy sailing craft or a fve-day liner with the mails; | with a few rapid beats of their out stretched wings, they close up the gap, and circle about her as Whippets might circle tree. Sometimes they alight upon the smooth and shining wake. Moving their wings just fast enough to prevent their sinking and batting the water with their webbed feet, they run upon the surface with marvellous speed According to Buffon it is from this hab- it that the birds have obtained the name Petrel, after the apostle Peter, who, we have been informed, also walked upon the water. ".
 Wilson, the ornithologist. after whom the present species is named, on Voy- age from New Orleans to New York. had striking proof that he same indi- 'idual birds sometimes follow a ship for many days at a time. In spite of the superstitious fears of the sailors, who dreaded the vengeance of the survivors ! Wilson shot a number of petrels, and lad a boat lowered to pick them up In ! firing at the birds, he hit one of them 1 Il such a way that the only damage it sustained was two broken quill faath- ITS, one in each wing. These feathers lung tluttering in the wind and served o distinguish it from all it's compan- ons. In spite of it's inconvenience, it continued to follow the ship for nearly :, week, or q distance of over four hum fred miles, Wilson also remarks upon , he great length of time these birds re- main on the wing. He says. "As soon Is it was light enough in the morning { 9 perceive them, they were found banning as usual; and l have often sat