SOME ROCK-HAUNTING BIRDS 



of itself it ruled out three or four birds that, in 

 the retrospect, — when skepticism, given half a 

 chance, is sure to have its finger in the pie, — ■ 

 might be troublesome as complicating the ques- 

 tion of its identity. 



This time, to my great satisfaction, it went 

 down close to the surf, where the rocks were 

 thickly matted with seaweeds, and began feed- 

 ing, jumping into the air at short intervals, as a 

 higher wave than common threatened to carry it 

 away. Once it caught a fish, or other creature, 

 of considerable size, and seemed not a little ex- 

 cited, beating its prize violently against the rock 

 again and again, and finally swallowing it with 

 difficulty, holding its bill open for some time in 

 the operation. 



By this time I had come to a pretty strong 

 conviction that the stranger must be Heteractitis, 

 the wandering tattler, though I had no definite 

 recollection of that bird's plumage (a species 

 never seen east of the Pacific coast), and knew 

 absolutely nothing about the kind of places it 

 frequented. The controlling consideration, in my 

 present state of ignorance, was that the bird 

 could be nothing else. 



My guess proved to be correct. Possibly I 

 should not be mentioning it here, had it turned 

 out otherwise. When I got back to the hotel, 

 133 



