Ornithological and Other Oddities 



in any sea and at any distance out. They take 

 no interest in the ship, but skim the waves on 

 their own mysterious business, with the down- 

 curved wings alternately flapped and held rigid, 

 and turning every now and then from side to 

 side. They are usually dark above and white 

 below, and it is curious how one loses them as 

 their back and wings are presented to the view 

 against the dark sea, and picks them out again 

 as a turn exposes their snowy breasts to sight. 

 Indeed, in spite of what one reads about the 

 protective nature of the white coloration in sea- 

 fowl, one soon perceives that their white plumage 

 really makes them strikingly conspicuous in any 

 ordinary sea, though among foam and breakers 

 they would no doubt harmonise better. 



I have never, however, been able to discover 

 against what foes adult sea-fowl need protection ; 

 birds of prey do not hunt out at sea, and, indeed, 

 Darwin's view was that a conspicuous coloration 

 was of advantage to the birds as a means of 

 recognition in the waste of waters. The con- 

 elusion one is irresistibly led to as the result 

 of observing sea-birds in a long voyage is that 

 of Mr. E. K. Robinson, that the great trouble 

 of marine bird-life is a continually craving 

 stomach, and hence it is that the interest felt 

 in sea-birds by people on board ships is so 



cordially reciprocated by the birds themselves. 



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