GRAY WINGS 



233 



ever, strong of wing and small of body and can 

 stand the all-day flight without fatigue. Some- 

 times they are seen following ships long dis- 

 tances from the shore — following by day and 

 disappearing at night, probably to rest on the 

 water — but usually they prefer the confines of 

 the shore. In the company of the shore birds 

 they ply the trade of highwayman or sneak- 

 thief, robbing other birds of their catch, and 

 plundering each other whenever possible. Every 

 pelican, for instance, generally has a gull com- 

 panion who sticks to him closer than a brother, 

 and filches what he can from the pelican's 

 quarry. When they must they take to small 

 fishing, but they much prefer playing the scav- 

 enger or the thief. Yet the gull is a handsome 

 bird in spite of his habits; and he is not to be 

 despised as a sailer. 



A more famous sailer, however, is the frigate 

 bird. With the gulls he likes the region along 

 shore; but he hunts out to sea long distances, 

 and travels with less expenditure of energy than 

 any member of the feathered tribe. It is im- 

 possible to imagine anything more graceful 

 upon the wing than this bird. Along the Mexi- 

 can coasts, as far south as Panama, he is fre- 

 quently seen, at times perhaps a thousand feet 

 above the earth, standing still like a box kite 



How guilt 

 live 



The frignt? 

 bad. 



