232 THE ARCTURUS ADVENTURE 



footed booby, hurled it forth, and a minute later it 

 was again at my feet, and I retrieved my property. 



The Battle of the Boobies will never be for- 

 gotten by any of us. The silken swish of wind- 

 driven rain, the thud and shriek of newly-arrived 

 birds, the thrashing of powerful wings as they 

 flapped against the deck-houses or engaged in 

 gladiatorial combats, their hisses and screams when 

 approached by us, and the shouts and helpless 

 laughter of the embattled scientists, would have 

 made a phonograph record that no uninitiated 

 listener could have explained. 



These birds nested by the hundred in low trees 

 along the shore of Cocos, and were now returning 

 from their fishing excursions to relieve their mates. 

 Their crops were full of recently swallowed fish, and 

 their first instinct after landing on the Arcturtis 

 was to deposit six to twelve neatly aligned, per- 

 fectly fresh fish on the deck. Comedy was added 

 to this performance by the sight of Dr. Gregory, 

 armed with a big enamel tray, solemnly following 

 the waddling birds about, picking up, with a for- 

 ceps, specimens of rare fish which the unfortunate 

 birds had intended as breakfast for their nestlings. 

 The food was chiefly small flyingfish, half-beaks 

 and squids, with a scattering of smaller species, 

 especially Ophiohlenny. An ichthyologist never 

 questions the source of his specimens! 



Later in the night cross currents of wind set in 

 and the small boats began to labor at their moor- 

 ings, twisting on their painters and piling up on one 



