A First Glance at the Birds, 



which they climb upon the wind, and I 

 have seen albatrosses swimming about 

 on the glassy surface of the ocean seem- 

 ingly unable to arise. 



The fulmars, colored like gulls, might 

 well be confounded with them were it 

 not for the curious indentations of the 

 beak and the two nostril tubes sur- 

 mounting it. One species, which breeds 

 in great numbers along Alaskan cliffs, 

 spends the winter upon our coast. 



There is something pathetic about so 

 slight a thing as a petrel in mid ocean. 

 1 know of nothing which so impresses 

 one with the loneliness and desolation 

 of the sea as to find one of these frail, 

 graceful little creatures hovering about 

 a ship at nightfall, just as a storm is 

 threatening. But sympathy is wasted 

 upon a being who revels in tempests, 

 and who delights in courting death by 

 hovering upon the very edge of the 

 wildest breakers. They are known to 

 the sailors as Mother Carey's chickens 

 and are considered birds of evil omen. 

 20 



