Mother Carey's Chicken

a familiar name given by sailors to the storm petrel. It is a gull-like bird that scuds along the surface of the sea, patting the water with its feet, apparently running, now down into a trough, now up on a crest. In stormy weather, when the waves are tossing, it may be seen busily searching for the small shellfish and other marine animals on which it feeds. It is the smallest web-footed bird known, being less than six inches in length, It is black with a white patch over the rump. It breeds on rocky shores. It lives habitually farther out at sea than any other bird seen in a transatlantic voyage.