AVIATORS 179 



and summer they are numerous over the northern 

 waters, but when autumn comes on they suddenly 

 disappear toward the Southland. 



The shearwaters are divided into two or three 

 distinct varieties. The "greater shearwaters" are 

 usually the more abundant in number; while the 

 "sooty shearwaters" are not only fewer, but seem 

 not to rank in the aristocratic class of their cousins. 

 Between them there is a distinct colour line, and 

 when the aristocrats are sailing over certain waters, 

 the darker cousins are not to be seen; and vice versa. 



The ocean aviators are as numerous as they are 

 varied in size and colour. Their laws are known 

 only to themselves, for no man has ever followed 

 them in all their strange wanderings. They have 

 learned to fly in the face of the most raging storm, 

 and manage their apparently frail air-ship bodies 

 to the despair of human fliers. 



Nothing is more picturesque than a white-winged 

 fleet of them. In the Arctic and Antarctic soli- 

 tudes they cover the waters like so many living 

 flowers. Some go about in circles like mammoth 

 water-lilies, spread upon the white-capped waves; 

 others, with pearly mantles, swim in long lines; 

 again they herd together like a profusion of flow- 

 ers in a bowl of white foam, while the air above is 

 star-like with myriads of sea-gulls. A lover of na- 



