 While it is widely considered unlucky to harm them, the notion that sailors believed that is a myth that derives from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous poem, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", in which a sailor is punished for killing an albatross by having to wear its corpse around his neck.Sailors did, however, consider it unlucky to touch a storm petrel, especially one that landed on the ship.Gulls are one of the most commonly seen seabirds because they frequent human-made habitats (such as cities and dumps) and often show a fearless nature.