OFF CHATHAM BARS 



191 



them following us up astern, and then flitting and twittering 

 around the vessel. As far as I could tell, they were all the 

 antarctic Wilson's Petrels with yellow webs instead of black, 

 and tails rounded instead of forked. What restless, stirring 

 bits of animation they are ! They are seldom seen to alight 

 on the water, save for an 

 instant. Toss out a bit of 

 liver just astern and a 

 petrel flutters down and 

 seizes it, without alighting. 

 It keeps fluttering its wings 

 and pattering its feet on the 

 surface, seeming to walk 

 on the water, like Peter of 

 old, hence its name. They 

 are hard indeed to photo- 

 graph, so constant is their 

 activity and so rapid the 

 beating of their wings. I 

 was snapping away plates 



at them with my reflex camera and found that an exposure 

 of one one-thousandth of a second was none too quick. With 

 one five-hundredth, at close range, the wings would blur. 



The farther off we sailed, the more birds appeared. Now 

 and then a Parasitic Jaeger followed us up, and finally a large 

 Pomarine Jaeger, tempted by the bribes of rich, fat liver we 

 were offering, flew up several times close astern and gave 

 me some fine chances with the camera. A few shearwaters, 

 too, began to show themselves, and by the time we had 

 reached the " Crab Ledge," some eight miles out, we decided 

 to " lie to " again and feed the birds. " Chickens " were as 

 plenty as ever, and came again for rations. A couple of jaegers 

 took the leavings, as they drifted off a little way from the 



WILSON'S PETRELS 



