Ocean Wanderers 



" Rocky Grounds," when a thunder squall began to 

 roll up from the westward. The clouds grew very 

 dark, the air was quite still, and lightning-flashes 

 appeared shoreward. Just then we sailed by a flock 

 ot Petrels, closely grouped upon the water. There 

 must have been over a hundred of them, and others 

 kept arriving, alighting in their midst. Though at 

 rest on the water, they kept up a constant fluttering 

 or trembling of the wings, and emitted low, twit- 

 tering notes. They certainly seemed ill at ease, and 

 I do not doubt that the approach of the storm had 

 this efl^ect upon them, as the skipper said it was a 

 common habit at such times. Poor little things, 

 this was all the refuge they knew how to take, the 

 solace of companionship at a time of possible danger. 

 Petrels are thus named from their seeming 

 ability, like Peter of old, to walk on the water. 

 In reality this is only done in appearance, for, 

 though they patter over the surface with their long, 

 slender, black legs and little webbed feet, the wings 

 are kept constantly in motion, and it is these that 

 really support them. 



The time came when photography was made 

 an adjunct to bird-study, and one August day the 

 camera and I made our first joint trip out over 

 Chatham Bars. This summer the fish were school- 

 ing well in-shore on the " Crab Ledge," so we did 

 not have to start till half-past five. In a couple of 

 hours we were on the fishing-grounds, the day 

 partly cloudy, and the wind light from the south- 

 east. Birds seemed unusually scarce. Except for 



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