CHAPTER XI 



GRAY WINGS 



The sea wherein life first began is still the 

 supporter of life. It feeds its own, sustains 

 itself, and yet always has something left over 

 for the dwellers upon the land. Sooner or later 

 all of nature's children return to it, as desert 

 animals troop by night to a pool in the waste. 

 It is the source and from it directly or indi- 

 rectly comes the food and drink that supply 

 the world. In its depths in unthinkable num- 

 bers are the ever-hungry fishes, along its coasts 

 are the rapacious herds of seal and otter, and 

 by its shores are the eagles gathered together — 

 the birds of prey that follow the sea chase and 

 are always in at the death. 



If possible the bird is a little more voracious 

 than the fish. The ordinary linnet or thrush 

 of the garden is glutton enough in his absorp- 

 tion of insect life ; but he has no such boundless 

 appetite as the gull or the gannet. The sea 

 birds seem impossible to satisfy. The brown 

 pelican wheels for hours above a school of 



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The sea. as 

 the source 

 of all. 



Voracity of 

 sea birds. 



