THE TRAVELS OF BIRDS 



man, without the aid of chart and compass, sex- 

 tant and chronometer, would surely lose his way? 



If the Curlew did not give me an answer to 

 this question, he had at least given me an exhibi- 

 tion of the confidence with which birds set out 

 on voyages from which man, unaided, would 

 shrink. The Wheatears, when I walked too near 

 them, flew to some other part of the steamer. 

 Evidently they welcomed a lift on their long 

 flight. But the Curlew, as I attempted to photo- 

 graph him at short range, without the slightest 

 hesitation left his perch on one of the steamer's 

 boats and flew out to sea. He did not swing 

 around to the stern to follow us but flew on 

 ahead. There was no wavering in his course. 

 With as much certainty as the man at the wheel 

 pointed the steamer's bow toward the Irish coast, 

 so did he point his bill toward land. He seemed 

 to know where he was going. His speed was 

 much greater than ours and soon he was lost to 

 sight. 



At this time Fastnet Light, the nearest land, 

 was distant one hundred and forty miles. From 



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