444 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



Fig. 375. — Bill of the black skimmer. 



poor tern ; and now his object is evident, for he plunges after the falling 

 fish, catches it in its descent, and presently flies off to attack another bird."' 

 The teaser is not compelled to act this part of a pirate; for he is a strong 

 swimmer, and apparently as well adapted to fish as is a tern or gull. 

 Neither can it be economy of labor to thus live by highway robbery; for. 

 as our author remarks, the trouble of compelling the other birds to disgorge 

 is apparently greater than that which would abundantly supply it with an 

 honest livelihood. 



Among the strangest of birds' beaks must be mentioned that belonging 

 to the skimmers, or shearwaters, long-winged birds, of which one species 

 occurs on our coast. The bill is like a pair of shears, the upper blade 



being stronger and 

 shorter than the 

 knif e-1 ike 1 o w e r 

 one. As the bird 

 flies over the sur- 

 face, in a most 

 curious and erratic 

 manner, t u r n i n g 

 hither and thither 

 with the utmost 

 •ease, this lower blade of the scissors ploughs the water, and occasionally 

 sioops up some small fish, which are quickly held by the closing of the 

 upper jaw. 



Largest of water-birds are the albatrosses, those strong-winged creatures, 

 which day after day follow the ships, as they sail over the tropical oceans. 

 and the seas of the southern hemisphere. No bird exceeds them hi powers 

 of flight. They seem to require no rest, and as one watches them circling 

 round and round, hardly the slightest motion of the wings can be seen. It 

 almost seems as if they are as light as the air in which they live. Now 

 they are close behind the ship, stooping to pick up some offal, thrown from 

 the cook's galley; a few moments later, and their circling flight has 

 carried them miles away. They have not lost the ship, however; for soon 

 they are back again, flying, or rather sailing, in the same tireless manner. 

 No matter how fast the ship may sail, they have not the slightest difficulty 

 in keeping up with it. or even in fl} T ing round and round it, in circles miles 

 in diameter. Night corner on, and these birds are lost to sight, but in the 

 morning they .ire seen again. Do they never rest? Do they follow the 

 ship all night on tireless pinion.-'.' 



Nobody knows with certainty. Still the probabilities are strong in 

 Eavor of the following view. In the day-time, the numbers of these birds 



