INSECT PIRATES AND SUBMARINES 



AR out on the ocean, when 

 the vessel is laboriously mak- 

 ing her way through the 

 troughs and over the crests of 

 the great waves, little birds, 

 black save for a patch of white 

 on the lower back, are a com- 

 mon sight, flying with quick 

 irregular wing-beats, close to the sur- 

 face of the troubled waters. When 

 they spy some edible bit floating 

 beneath them, down they drop un- 

 til their tiny webbed feet just rest upon 

 the water. Then, snatching up the 

 titbit, half-flying, they patter along the 

 surface of the water, just missing being engulfed by each 



119 



