1 86 THE STORY OF A BIRD LOVER 



birds were quite fearless from the first, but was 

 not prepared to see them come to such close 

 quarters. As soon as they detected the large 

 piece of liver tied to the string, they thronged 

 about it like flies about a lump of sugar. Gradu- 

 ally the cord was shortened, drawing the bait 

 toward the boat, until it was not more than three 

 or four feet from the gunwale. From the cabin 

 the skipper brought an ancient crab-net with a 

 long handle, and presently he was catching the 

 three kinds of petrels, much as one catches butter- 

 flies, emptying his net as he caught each bird 

 into the cock-pit of the boat. Here they were 

 absolutely helpless, as from such a flat surface it 

 was quite impossible for this kind of bird to rise 

 on the wing, and they walked about much after 

 the fashion of chickens, and with about as much 

 commotion as fowls make when intruded upon. 

 Shortly all appeared to be affected by the motion 

 of the boat and began to disgorge what they had 

 eaten, and the cock-pit was now a scene of filth 

 which can be better imagined than described. 



Of course it was not necessary to use a gun. 

 We caught the birds, and they were in much 

 better shape than we could have obtained them 

 by the other method. We selected only such as 

 seemed of particular value, allowing the rest to 

 go overboard, where, on reaching the top of a 

 wave, they immediately took flight. 



