1894
April 15
St. Christopher to Sombrero & beyond
  A clear day with light, but steady westerly wind from
about 9 a.m. to sunset, a most unusual condition here
at this season according to our captain.

  At sunrise we were off the western end of St. Christopher
whose slender, tapering volcanic peaks were wholly
free from clouds or haze and stood out in bold
relief against the clear, pale blue sky.
  A little later we passed St. Eustacious within half-
a-mile or less. The western shore of this small island
is bounded by cliffs of apparently three or four hundred
feet in height in which a number of Tropic Birds
were evidently breeding for they kept coming and
going to & from the open sea rising as they
approached the cliff and disappearing from sight
as they shot into the dense shadows of its narrow
crevices and overhanging ledges. From two or three to
six or eight were constantly in sight about this
cliff.
  A mile or two beyond we passed or started others
that were floating on the surface of the ocean.
They sat very still and held their long tails rather
high [diagram] and pointing out perfectly straight
behind. They rose with some slight difficulty using
both feet & wings for the first yard or two in the
manner of a Shearwater (it was dead calm at the
time). After they had fairly cleared the surface
their elongated tail feathers, to my surprise, drooped
supinely [diagram] for the next thirty yards or so snapping
out straight, however, at each beat of the wings. After
the bird had flown one hundred yards and acquired