440 Notes on Sport and Travel v 



was a fish which would puzzle a long-winged hawk to 

 bind, flying, as it can, with very considerable velocity 

 dead in the teeth of a sailor's hard wind. For an 

 albatross to do it would be about as easy as the catch- 

 ing of a snipe in full zigzag by a Dorking rooster. 



Look in the right place at the right time, with 

 the right eyes, and you will see whales, porpoises, 

 albacore, bonita, flying-fish, and flying-birds all intent 

 on their own individual interests. The fresh hatched 

 ' brit,' or very young fish, rise to (or are hatched on) 

 the surface ; after them come the large ones, and 

 after them the monsters of the deep, while the birds 

 sweep screaming above to pick up what morsels they 

 can, the unselfish birds who with screams and squawks 

 call their friends to share the banquet. And because 

 they are all feeding together it will be straightway 

 thought that they are all feeding on each other. I 

 have watched the business many a pleasant hour, and 

 it has never been my lot to see whale, albatross, 

 sword-fish, or flying-fish, make the smallest movement 

 towards mutual devourment. Others may have been 

 more fortunate, or have worn a sort of spectacles. 



Last ! of course these stories will last so long as 

 publishers are overburdened with second-hand wood- 

 blocks, and can find chamber-naturalists ready to 

 write sentimental copy to suit them ; and so long as the 

 ignorant public retains its pet idea, that the observa- 

 tions of an utterly untrained observer are as valuable 

 and reliable as those of men who have learned the dififi- 

 cult lesson of doubting the evidence of their own eyes. 



