356 THE TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS — TUBIXARES. 



specimen of D. alhatms ; but the youug of the latter species, though somewhat similar 

 iu plumage, is very distinct in form and dimensions. 



Mr. Dall speaks of this bird as being very common in the North Pacific, and as 

 accompanying the ships for weeks. It is not found in Behring's Sea ; but as soon as the 

 party had passed the islands, coming south, their vessel was several times joined and 

 followed to San Francisco by a company of this species. They were generally dusky ; 

 but the old males had more or less white on the head. They are described as very 

 greedy, swallowing all sorts of scraps thrown overboard ; and fishing for them with 

 a hook and line baited with pork, is a favorite amusement for the passengers when 

 becalmed. "With the exception of the small Petrels, these were the only birds met 

 with off soundings in the North Pacific. They will follow a ship for hundreds of 

 miles, and will feed upon all manner of refuse. They are indefatigable on the wing ; 

 but are dirty, ugly, awkward, and cruel to wounded birds of their kind. They have 

 an angry note, which is only uttered when some more fortunate bird has secured the 

 coveted morsel ; and a croaking whine, in which they give vent to their apprehensions 

 just before a storm. This bird hardly ever flies at a greater height than fifty feet 

 above the water, and usually keeps about thirty feet above it. It rises by unfolding 

 its wings and running a few steps in the water, and then a few strokes send it into 

 the air. ()\\ a rough day it rises quickly, but always in the same manner ; while in 

 a dead calm it often has to run ten or twenty feet before getting out of the water ; 

 and it cannot rise at all from the deck of a vessel. Its wings are long, and the 

 movement in unfolding them is similar to that made in opening a carpenter's rule. 

 In rising or falling, the wings are kept perfectly stiff ; and they are folded only when 

 the bird is settled in the water. When half folded they form a triangular arch over 

 the back, and present a very awkward appearance. 



Tliis bird remains in the air sometimes for five minutes without moving its wings 

 in flight, although it does not always continue at the same height, but slides from 

 side to side, like a sheet of paper falling slowly. It has two ways of alighting — one 

 is to fly against the wind, with the Avings stiff and extended, and the feet spread and 

 stuck out in front, and going into the water at an angle very obtuse, the outspread 

 web-feet soon checking its speed. The other way is to stretch out the legs stiff and 

 at full length behind, and to tip over into the water backward on its posteriors — 

 exactly as if, while preparing to sit down, some one had pulled the chair away. 

 This bird rests very calmly on the water when once settled, and swims slowly and 

 laboriously. Mr. Dall has never seen it nearer land than the Farallones, and sup- 

 poses that it breeds on the rocky islets off the northern coast. The entire absence of 

 birds of all kinds, except only Petrels, from the eastern portion of the North Pacific 

 Ocean, is a fact quite remarkable. 



Mr. Dall, in his paper on the Eastern Aleutian Islands, remarks in regard to the 

 flight of this species, that its ordinary method of support, when there was a breeze, 

 consisted in rising against the wind and falling with it ; this being sometimes kept 

 up for hours with hardly a stroke of the wings. It rises only against the wind, 

 except in rare cases, when its descending momentum is suflicient to raise it slightly 

 for a short distance, or when the reflex eddy from the high surge is strong enough to 

 give it a slight lift. It uses its strong webbed feet to some extent in balancing itself 

 when turning with the Avind ; also, by extending them downward at a right angle 

 with the body, to check its course, especially when alighting on the water. Gener- 

 ally, when flying, the feet are stretched out behind, with the webs extended, and 

 assist the bird niaterially in guiding itself, the tail being shorter than the extended 

 feet. It rises by running against the wind over the water, until sufficiently raised 



