THE SEA AND THE DESERT 185 



lines and lowering them soon had two large fish 

 struggling in the bottom of the boat. As he had 

 now reached a desirable spot he anchored, kept 

 on fishing for a few minutes, and when some eight 

 or ten codfish were in the boat he said he would 

 show me the birds that frequented the fishing 

 "banks." He then took the livers of several of 

 the codfish and cut them into very minute 

 pieces ; grinding these into pulp, this " chum " 

 was cast overboard to float on the water. A long, 

 oily streak on the surface now indicated the run 

 of the tide, and this streak soon reached farther 

 than the eye could follow. When we anchored I 

 had seen one or two birds at a very considerable 

 distance, and now, following down this oily streak 

 or lane, they began to arrive in the vicinity of the 

 boat, allured by the bits of liver. Shortly, birds 

 were about us in countless numbers. They con- 

 sisted almost entirely of the stormy petrel, the 

 greater shearwater and the sooty shearwater, with 

 an occasional parasitic gull. Before collecting 

 any specimens, it seemed worth while to examine 

 the birds with care, for I feared that with the 

 report of the gun they would be frightened away. 

 So I waited for a time. The captain now took 

 a piece of string, some seven or eight feet long, 

 fastened a large piece of codfish liver to it, 

 which he tied on securely, and allowed it to float 

 out at the stern of the boat. I had thought the 



