Page:Bird-lore Vol 08.djvu/120

 90 Bird-Lore Being called away by duty for half an hour, I put my bird in a hat-box for safe keeping. When I returned I found it had recovered its strength, and its wings, as I held it, gave proof of great power in proportion to the diminutive size of the bird. Having examined it to my satisfaction, I took it up on deck, where, with a quick sweep of wing, it vanished into the dark- ness, alone in a vast solitude of waters. It was a peculiar circumstance that I should have been the one to discover this bird on a ship crowded with men, the most of whom would, I fear, have killed it on sight, and none of whom, so far as I know, would have taken any interest in it. The next day I looked many times for my bird, but the ocean yielded no sign of life except flying fish. These do turn and change direction in the air, notwithstanding what John Burroughs says (in 'Far and Near') to the contrary. One hesitates to dispute such an authority and one whose writings give us so much pleasure, but when I read 'Far and Near' about a year ago I felt that there was something wrong with his flying fish, as I have been seeing them for many years in many seas. Since then I have spent about eight months in tropical waters where flying fish abound, and have observed them critically with a view to this point. They certainly change direction in flight, — sometimes almost at right angles and frequently as much as thirty or forty-five degrees. I have watched some the day that I am writing. The afternoon of January 17, I discovered three Gulls flying about the ships, and from as good observation as I could get of them on the wing I was reasonably sure they were Kittiwakes, both young and adult birds. Our squadron was then in latitude 28° north, longitude 5o° west, or nearly sixteen hundred land-miles from Cape Hatteras. A week later, January 24, in making my daily observation of these birds, I noticed that their number had suddenly become five. The evening before we had met a British steamer bound west, which may or may not account for the increase in our little flock. If the two new birds had not been following the British steamer they must have been wandering aimlessly at sea, as the nearest land then was the Canary islands, about twelve hundred miles to the eastward of our. A gale soon after parted our tow-lines, scattered our ships in a tem- pestuous sea, drove us backward more than a hundred miles, and gave me plenty of employment more important than watching birds. Five days later, when the weather had moderated and we had resum.ed towing to the east- ward, after a chapter of adventures in no way connected with ornithology, I had time to notice that the five Kittiwakes were still faithfully following us. If not Kittiwakes, they were some African or European species of Gull not known to the A. O. U. 'Check-List,' but I believe my identification was correct, as in apparent size and in markings they agreed very well with the descriptions of the Kittiwake. Then ensued a period of about a week of high easterly winds (ahead) with furious squalls of driving rain that prevented any satisfactory observa-