The Wit of the Wild 



r 



of his wonderful patron, and in recompense act- 

 ing as intelligence officer and guide. 



Mosely gives a most interesting account of 

 their scouting for the master ; and he also men- 

 tions the habitual attendance, in the South Seas, 

 of a petrel upon the whale; but the principal 

 " whale-bird " is a small snipe-like creature of 

 the Arctic regions called a phalarope. These 

 abound in Greenland waters, and they assemble 

 in flocks about every whale that basks upon the 

 surface, as the whales often do, alighting upon 

 its back and industriously cleaning it of the 

 small crustaceous parasites that attach them- 

 selves to the leviathan's skin, often in hundreds 

 of thousands. The monster of the deep floats 

 contentedly on the surface and lets his little 

 friends pull out and eat the annoying " lice " 

 as though he really appreciated the favor. 



Another very curious partnership of the sea 

 is that between certain large Medusae or sea- 

 jellies and small fishes. The jellies consist of 

 an umbrella-shaped body, which looks like glass, 

 and from the under side of which trail great 

 bunches of filmy threads and some larger cur- 

 $ 152 &o 



