1894
Feb. 21 
(No. 3)    

At sea on Str. "Madiana"

            The trade wind increased during the afternoon
     kicking up a lumpy sea which made our ship
                    pitch and roll more than was agreeable to some
                    of the more sensitive passengers but still the tables
                    at dinner showed only a few empty seats. The
                    clouds were more numerous than yesterday but the
                    sky was at no time completely overcast. There
                    were fewer Flying Fish than during the forenoon.
                                                                                                             
                         When I first went on deck this morning an                     
                    exclamation from several of the passengers attracted my  
                    attention to a bird which seemed to be just rising               
                    from the water about 500 yards from the steamer.             
                    It looked about as large as a Pigeon and flew
                    very like one flapping the wings quickly and
                    steadily as it mounted in a spiral course and
                    made off to westward circling until out of
                    sight. It's nearly white color and the long, slender
                    tail feathers enabled me to recognize it at once as
                    a Tropic Bird, my first. I had expected a more
                    Tern-like flight but the resemblance to the flight
                    of a Pigeon was so marked that several of the other
                    passengers were also struck with it.
 [margin]Tropic Bird[margin]
                                                                                                               
                        Besides the Tropic Bird I saw two Dusky Shearwaters  
                   (P. audouboni) wandering about a mile or more from         
                   the steamer late in the afternoon.        
[margin]Audubon's Shearwaters[margin]
                                                                                                               
                        The thermometer stood at 74[degrees sign] in the cabin at the
                    foot of the companion way at 1 P.M.