OcEAN WANDERERS 
“Rocky Grounds,” when a thunder squall began to 
roll up from the westward. ‘The clouds grew very 
dark, the air was quite still, and lightning-flashes 
appeared shoreward. Just then we sailed by a flock 
of Petrels, closely grouped upon the water. There 
must have been over a hundred of them, and others 
kept arriving, alighting in their midst. ‘Though at 
rest on the water, they kept up a constant fluttering 
or trembling of the wings, and emitted low, twit- 
tering notes. ‘They certainly seemed ill at ease, and 
I do not doubt that the approach of the storm had 
this effect upon them, as the skipper said it was a 
common habit at such times. Poor little things, 
this was all the refuge they knew how to take, the 
solace of companionship at a time of possible danger. 
Petrels are thus named from their seeming 
ability, like Peter of old, to walk on the water. 
In reality this is only done in appearance, for, 
though they patter over the surface with their long, 
slender, black legs and little webbed feet, the wings 
are kept constantly in motion, and it is these that 
really support them. 
The time came when photography was made 
an adjunct to bird-study, and one August day the 
camera and I made our first joint trip out over 
Chatham Bars. ‘This summer the fish were school- 
ing well in-shore on the “ Crab Ledge,” so we did 
not have to start till half-past five. Ina couple of 
hours we were on the fishing-grounds, the day 
partly cloudy, and the wind light from the south- 
east. Birds seemed unusually scarce. Except for 
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