414 The Frigate Bird 



entirely beneficent. For when the men reached the 

 rocks and saw the monumental poses of the dying 

 birds, they, forgetting for the moment the quest for 

 eggs, rushed upon them with sticks, and slew until 

 the last of the sufferers had been set free. It was 

 done in a very brutal and thoughtless way, but the 

 result was entirely good. Still, I felt glad even then 

 I had no hand in it. so perfectly unmerciful may some 

 of our most merciful restraints be. 



A great gathering of eggs was made, so great that 

 the whole of the laying ground was completely cleared 

 of them, and also, with a wantonness for which I 

 cannot find sufficient condemnation, the eggs upon 

 which the mothers were sitting were also taken, 

 none of them fit for food. So we had a grand feast 

 of eggs for two or three days, after which we had to 

 go without, for we could not go back to the rank 

 eggs of the booby with the fresh, sweet taste of the 

 Frigate Birds' eggs in our mouths. And then the men 

 lamented, as usual too late, their extravagance. I 

 noticed, however, that every day one or two of the 

 men would go over to the rocks and have a busy 

 search for a stray egg or so. Seamen are, of course, 

 passionately fond of fresh eggs and vegetables, because 

 they come their way so seldom. So that their voracity 

 may perhaps be excused. 



I am loth to leave the Frigate Bird, because he 

 is the last of the Deep-Sea People with which I have 

 to deal. And yet, somehow, I do not feel able to 

 treat of his life in an idyllic fashion. Having stated 

 what I know about him, I fear I have left myself 

 little room or reason so to do. He seems to be entirely 

 free from all those pretty traits characteristic of most 

 other sea-birds. So destitute of natural affection 

 are they, even for their young, that it is no uncommon 



