Page:The birds of America, volume 7.djvu/305

Rh emarginate or even, of twelve feathers. Tongue much flattened, tapering to a horny point; oesophagus wide, within the thorax enormously distended, and with the proventriculus forming an ovate sac, which is recurved; stomach very small; intestine short, of moderate width; cceca small; cloaca globular.

Before describing the habits of this bird, I think it necessary to speak of the three distinct species which are at times found near our coasts, and of which I have found two breeding within the Union. The present species is the largest; that named after Wilson the next in size; and the one called the Stormy Petrel the least. Until I had met with the whole of these species near our coast, I, like others, thought that the last mentioned kept nearer to Europe than it in reality does at certain seasons.

In August 1831, I was on board of the American packet-ship Columbia, commanded by my friend Joseph C. Delano, Esq., who had promised that, in case of a calm occurring, he would allow me to have a boat manned to go in search of birds. The day is not given, because I never keep a journal while crossing the Atlantic; but as I had left England on the first of the month, and was then on the banks of Newfoundland, it must have been towards the latter part of it, when the weather suddenly became quite calm and beautiful. "Mother Carey's Chickens" were by hundreds around the noble ship, and although ill in consequence of the sickness which never leaves me at sea, I asked for a boat and some hands to row me about for an hour or so. This was granted, guns and ammunition were placed in the yawl, and my assistant, Mr. Henry Ward of London, an officer, and two sailors, accom- panied me. We had three guns, which were alternately loaded and handed to me. In the course of about an hour, twenty-five or thirty Petrels were shot, together with some Fulmars. Had you been looking on, you might perhaps have laughed at me on seeing that the moment after I fired, I was obliged to lean over the side of the bark to relieve myself from the dis-