Note 48 — PRIMO VIAGGIO INTORNO AL MONDO

The second bird mentioned is the stormy petrel (of the family Laridæ and genus Thalassidroma), which is found along all the Atlantic coasts and on some of the Pacific. The tale of the text was current among sailors (see Wilkes, U. S. Exploring Expedition, viii, pp. 402, 403). The cagassela (“cagaselo” in MS. 5,650) is the Stercorarius parasiticus, called also the jaeger, and by sailors “boatswain,” “teaser,” and “dung-hunter.” The last name arose from the belief, long held even by scientists, that this bird fed on the dung of gulls and terns. In reality it pursues the latter birds and compels them to disgorge the fish that they have swallowed. The flying-fish is either a species of Exocœtus, or the Scomberesox saurus of Europe and America, both of which feed in large schools and jump from the water to escape their enemies. See Riverside Natural History (Boston and New York).