ALBATROSSES 105 



feeding on substances which are disdained by their 

 fellows. Or it may be an isolation from fear of 

 death by dayhght, such as is engendered in bats and 

 goatsuckers; or from actual low development of 

 mentality as in the sloth; or an optical sanctuary 

 such as an insect which in color, form and move- 

 ment strives ever to be thought a leaf. But no 

 more dramatic isolation exists than that of the al- 

 batross, which, although furnished with legs and 

 toes, yet for most of its days spurns all solid earth 

 and lives its life between sky and sea. 



When I first saw albatrosses at their breeding 

 ground I experienced a slight feeling of embarrass- 

 ment, as if I were peeking through the blinds, or 

 looking behind the scenes. I feel much the same 

 when, in the rotagravure section of the Sunday 

 paper, I see a photograph of some famous prima 

 donna making an apple pie in her kitchenette. 

 The voice of a chanteuse and the flight of an alba- 

 tross are among the more wonderful things in the 

 world, so much so that at first we hesitate even 

 to think of the authors in relation to the trivial 

 things of life. Whatever may be the case with the 

 home life of a great singer, that of these famous 

 birds shows the inevitable law of compensation. I 

 have already courted displeasure in revealing an 

 unromantic side of the Sargasso Sea, so I might 

 as well continue and describe the gait of the Galap- 

 agos albatross. Its progress on land makes that 

 of Charlie Chaplin appear grace itself, but for 

 sheer amazing interest, the courtship and dances 

 of these birds vie with its flight. 



