Uncle Dick and Lisa's Old Time Animal Tales

The question is often asked, where do sea birds obtain fresh water to slake their thirst? But we have never seen it satisfactorily answered till a few days ago. An old skipper, with whom we were conversing on the subject, said that he had frequently seen these birds at sea, far from any land that could furnish them with water, hovering round and under a storm-cloud, chattering like ducks on a hot day at a pond, and drinking in the drops of rain as they fell. They would smell a rain squall a hundred miles, or even further off, and scud for it with almost inconceivable swiftness. How long seabirds can exist without water is only a matter of conjecture; but probably their powers of enduring thirst are increased by habit, and possibly they can go without for many days, if not for several weeks.