AN ISLAND OF WATER 331 



unexpected. For an hour it preened its plumage, 

 then half-heartedly sang a single phrase of its 

 simple ditty. It next flew down to the deck where, 

 with the skill of a professional flycatcher far trans- 

 cending that of an ordinary warbler, it caught two 

 flies which were humming about a dead fish. A 

 moment later it rose, and in a steep ascending 

 spiral, after gaining an elevation of about two 

 hundred feet, it darted along the compass line for 

 Cocos, fifty-eight miles away. 



As to claiming completeness of representation 

 of vertebrate classes on my island, I announce 

 failure at once. No amphibian, whether frog, 

 toad or polywog existed nearer than the American 

 mainland, but this was the only group missing. I 

 lay flat in my bow pulpit one day, while we were 

 slowly steaming in a great circle, drawing a half 

 dozen large tow nets, when I saw two rocks ahead, 

 just awash. Before the first impression could 

 crystallize into actual belief, I detected the 

 rounded, upturned heads, and knew that the class 

 of reptiles could be included in my island fauna. 

 They were big, green sea turtles, although one be- 

 lied its name for its shell was a warm brick red in 

 color, dotted here and there with large, white barn- 

 acles. They drifted slowly past me, one on each 

 side of the Arctu/rus, merely turning their big 

 heads, but not moving otherwise until they were 

 tumbled by the bow waves, when they immediately 

 dived. 



Two species of sea mammals paid the Arcturus 

 and the island a visit within the ten days' space; 



