Sea Swallows 
or nearly so beneath, and the tail lustrous 
white, the top of the head and the hind neck 
a glossy black, the lengthened bill and legs a 
bright, pinkish red, the long, slender wings as 
willowy as the gulls’, they formed a picture as 
beautiful as it was lively and dashing. A flock 
and flurry of birds like this, with their surging 
mass of vitality and grace, afford a pleasure 
never found in a single specimen; and yet, in 
such a multitude, the sense of individuality is 
lost, and the observer comes closer to its nat- 
ure when he watches a single individual, than 
when he follows the motions of a large con- 
course. Throughout almost my entire circuit 
of the island, they formed a bright and flying 
cloud above my head. Being rather conserva- 
tive in my estimate, I said there were hundreds 
and perhaps thousands of them. That this was 
not arash conclusion seems evident from the 
fact that the skipper declared there were a mil- 
lion; and, on appealing to my hermit host for 
his opinion, he gravely said, ‘‘ forty million.”’ 
While this canopy of swiftly interweaving 
birds was spread above my head, I was also over- 
arched by the maze of their continuous and 
peculiar little cries, which I will not make the 
birds nor myself ridiculous by trying to imi- 
127 
