Notices of Brazil in 1828 and 1829 . ointed wings; but are particularly distin-guished by a hook, formed by a sudden bendof the tip of their beak. They fly along withuncommon rapidity, wheeling and skimmingover the surface of the surge, with a lightnessand flexibility which is singularly elegant. Theysometimes disappeared suddenly, entering thebreast of a wave, like a martin into a sandbank; and they are endued with such an am-phibious nature, that they frequently remainhalf an hour under water without feed on the wing, like swallows, andwere so familiar, that, like them, they
Notices of Brazil in 1828 and 1829 . ointed wings; but are particularly distin-guished by a hook, formed by a sudden bendof the tip of their beak. They fly along withuncommon rapidity, wheeling and skimmingover the surface of the surge, with a lightnessand flexibility which is singularly elegant. Theysometimes disappeared suddenly, entering thebreast of a wave, like a martin into a sandbank; and they are endued with such an am-phibious nature, that they frequently remainhalf an hour under water without feed on the wing, like swallows, andwere so familiar, that, like them, they seemedto love the haunts of men, in the solitarydeep; and followed the ship, flitting closeunder the cabin windows, and within a hand-spikes length of the side, with a seemingsense of security, justified by the event; assailors entertain for them a superstitious re-spect, and, I am told, never injure the elder Mr. Sadler attempted to crossfrom Ireland to England in a balloon, he fellinto the sea, about mid-channel. He was. Frocellaria Feiagica. NOTICES OF BRAZIL. 7 immediately surrounded by a number of birdsof this class, attracted, as he supposed, bysome fragments of his provision in the car ofhis balloon. Though nearly in the dark, outof sight of land, and almost suffocated withthe waves, he felt, he told me afterwards, akind of social comfort in the company of thesefamiliar little birds, which surrounded and fol-lowed him like chickens in a farm-yard. In theWestern Islands, where we afterwards touched,they most abound, and they kill them in quan-tities for their oil. They are so plump, thatthe islanders merely draw a candle-wick throughtheir bodies, and it becomes so saturated withthe liquid fat, as to form a lamp without fur-ther process. Their appearance at sea is sup-posed to foretell a storm; and if they are notalways the precursors, they are generally, Ibelieve, the companions of one; as they areseen in the strongest gales, topping the ridgesof the wave, and
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