and can and pitcher that was left within
reach. Up he would run to the top of some high cupboard or shelf and
dash it to the floor! Such mischief as he made!

Little Gretchen had to give him away at last because he broke
everything he could lay his roguish paws upon.

SOME OTHER THINGS BOBBY SAW AT SEA.

He saw the stormy petrels. They flew about the ship almost every day.
They liked to eat the scraps the cook threw overboard.

[Illustration: THE STORMY PETREL.]

The petrels are sooty black. Their feet are partly webbed.

They sit and float upon the water. They run about over the water. In
stormy weather they fly through the dashing foam.

Bobby's mamma told him many things about the stormy petrel. She told
him how the stormy petrel flies far, far away from land. His home is
on the sea. He can fly all day long and not be tired.

The stormy petrel hardly ever goes on land except to lay her eggs. Her
nest is in a hole in some high cliff by the sea. She hatches one
little bird. It looks like a ball of fluff. The nest smells very oily.

The stormy petrel is very oily, like all sea birds. He is so full of
oil that the people of the Faroe Islands sometimes use him for a lamp.
They take a dead petrel and run a wick through him. Then they set him
on end and light the wick and he gives a very good light indeed!

The sailors call the stormy petrel "Mother Carey's chickens."

The name of Bobby's ship was _The Jefferson_. Once when the
_Jefferson_ was in an English port, Bobby saw something very pretty.
It was a bird's nest. It was built in the rigging of a ship.

This ship had been lying in port a good while. The nest was built in
a block where some of the cordage runs. It was built by a pair of
chaffinches.

Now the chaffinch is not a sea bird; it is a land bird. It builds its
nest in trees and hedges. It builds a cosey little nest out of moss
and wool and hair. It is deep and round like a cup.

But this pretty pair of chaffinches found a new place in which to
build their nest. It was even more airy than the top of a tree. See it
in the picture! Day by day Bobby watched them as they flew busily to
and fro. Many other people watched them too.

[Illustration: THE CHAFFINCHES' NEST.]

The chaffinch is a cheerful little bird. In the countries where he
lives, he is heard merrily whistling in the spring time. There he sits
singing to his mate who is keeping her eggs warm. Happy little fellow!

THE MOS