Wilson's storm petrel - aka a Mother Carry's Chicken
(photo by P. Coin)
At sea ~ The day opened pleasantly with but little wind and scarcely any sea. It is almost as balmy as last Sunday was. The ship has been followed for several days by Mother Carry’s chickens – they are beautiful little birds, about the size of the blackbird. Their color, I think is grey with white breasts, they fly close to the water, and are ever on the wing, sailing about and feeding from the surface. They seem to follow us for the sake of the rejected provisions that are constantly thrown overboard. In feeding they touch the water lightly with their feet, but keep themselves in the air as they pick up what they wish. They are quite tame and often fly within easy gun shot. I believe the sailors think these birds presage a storm. They must have wonderful power of wing, for they are met with in mid ocean and are never seen to light. We had prayers this morning by Dr. Gallup while I read a sermon. This afternoon a heavy wind is sprung up and Captain Knowles predicts a stormy night. It is a westerly wind, so that at all events it will be useful. A poor woman dying of consumption joined us at prayer time. She returns to the “old country” that her friends may close her eyes. How different are our feelings from hers, yet it is only a question of a few years, which goes first.
"Mother Carey's Chickens is an alternate sailors name for storm petrels. So who is Mother Carey? Mother Carey is a corruption of Mater Cara, one of the epithets of Maria, the mother of Christ, used by the Spanish and Portuguese sailors who were the first westerners in the southern seas."
ReplyDeleteso says:
http://neseabirds.com/stormpetrels.htm