Petrel

A Westland petrel

Petrels are tube-nosed seabirds in the phylogenetic order Procellariiformes.


Up and down! - up and down!
From the base of the wave to the billow’s crown,
And amidst the flashing and feathery foam
The stormy petrel finds a home, -
A home, if such a place may be
For her who lives on the wide, wide sea.

O’er the deep! - o’er the deep!
Where the whale and the shark and the sword-fish sleep, -
Outflying the blast and the driving rain,
The petrel telleth her tale — in vain!

From "The Stormy Petrel" poem by Barry Cornwall[1]