274 IMMENSE NUMBER OF BIRDS. 



literally swarming with small birds about tlie size of 

 a blackbird, busily engaged in building nests from 

 the kelp which is thrown up by the surf. They 

 seemed to take but little notice of us. "VVe held a 

 consultation, and finally decided that the}-' were fit to 

 be eaten, and, in pursuance of this resolution, began 

 bagging them. This we found but little trouble ; all 

 that was necessary being to ascend one of the man- 

 grove trees, and, as the birds wheeled around in 

 circles to more nearly examine our, to them, strange 

 appearance, knock them down left and right. In 

 this way but very few minutes elapsed before we had 

 sufficient for our purposes — two hundred and fifty 

 of the little feathered bipeds being a mess for the 

 ship's company ; and all united in deciding that they 

 made an exceedingly savory stew. We repeated the 

 operation often after having been initiated into their 

 good qualities. Some idea may be formed of the 

 number consumed, when I state that the feathers, 

 which were saved by old Jack, weighed twenty 

 pounds ; the old salt in his green old age being de- 

 termined to have a soft bed to repose his weather- 

 worn limbs upon. To this end he had been collect- 

 ing feathers during the greater part of the voyage — 

 albatrosses, monimokes, ducks, pigeons, hawks, and 

 whale birds, contributing each their quota to his 

 store. 



I cannot take leave of this subject without attempt- 

 ing to give some idea of the immense numbers of the 

 birds. I had read of the innumerable flocks of wild 

 pigeons which frequent our Western States, and I 

 had seen at sea immense flocks of various birds 

 migrating to other countries, but I had never formed 



