172 THE STORY OF A BIRD LOVER 



meadow, and seem among the most accomplished 

 and graceful of flyers, this huge bird performs all 

 these evolutions, and in addition possesses powers 

 of soaring that are rivalled only by the albatross. 

 While floating high overhead, with long, forked 

 tail and slim, expanded wings silhouetted against 

 the sky, sometimes almost motionless and again 

 drifting with the varying air currents, the bird has 

 often appeared to me like a human being endowed 

 with miraculous power. At close range, and when 

 in active flight, besides the swallow-like evolutions 

 suggested, other remarkable manoeuvres are fre- 

 quent. I have often seen the man-o'-war pause 

 for an instant in mid-air and scratch the side of 

 his face or top of his head with his foot ; the per- 

 formance, too, was heightened by the extreme 

 deliberation of the accompanying motion. Not 

 only do these birds fly well and soar at great 

 heights, but they possess the power of prolonged 

 and sustained travel. Often they are encountered 

 far at sea, and stories of their accompanying ves- 

 sels for extended distances are current. 



In habits the birds are parasitic ; that is, their 

 food is usually obtained after it has been caught 

 by some other kind of bird ; at Clearwater and to 

 the south, the brown pelican is the constant and 

 almost the sole victim. 



The bald eagles were even more abundant at 

 Clearwater than they had been at Gigger's. There 



