AMONG THE WaTER-FowL 
throw out some cod-livers, and see the birds. Just 
then, as it happened, there was but one bird, a 
Shearwater, in sight. It was but a moment or two 
before it spied the mass floating on the water, sur- 
rounded by a greasy “slick,” and, alighting beside 
it, proceeded, with satisfied grunts, to gorge itself 
in the most eager and gluttonous manner, as though 
afraid that another might come to share the feast. 
This evident anticipation was certainly well founded, 
for in a moment, as though out of space, a Petrel 
appeared, then another Shearwater, and soon there 
were over fifty birds around us. Perfectly fearless, 
they would swim or fly up, and almost take the 
liver from our hands. It was a most animated and 
interesting scene. 
This first day gave me yet another acquaintance. 
As we were nearing the fishing grounds, I spied a 
large dark bird approaching, higher up than is usual 
with the Shearwaters, flying more like a Gull. <A 
Jiddy-hawk,” exclaimed the fisherman, and, seizing 
a clam from the “ washer,” he tossed it over the 
side. ‘The bird would have passed us at some dis- 
tance, but no sooner did it see the fisherman’s move- 
ment than it turned, and swooped down to the 
water, quite close alongside. ‘Then I knew that 
the mysterious “ Jiddy ’ was the Pomarine Skua, or 
Jaeger—of a tribe that are a sort of predatory 
adjunct to the Gull fraternity. We saw but two 
more that day; a little later in the season they were 
abundant. 
Since that interesting day of initiation, a num- 
berof -years’ “ago, I have made many more trips 
thither, and to a eehies parts of our coast, to study 
100 
