Irish Sea.
Queenstown to Liverpool
1909.
Aug. 4 [August 4, 1909]
(No 2)
 During the entire day I saw less than a dozen Herring Gulls
of whose identity I felt sure & none of these approached the ship
closely. There were never more than three or four Lesser Black backed
Gulls or Black-headed Gulls about her but we sometimes saw
as many as a dozen of the latter species floating together
on the water. Nearly all the Mew Gulls were in fully
mature plumage. They are beautiful birds more easy, graceful
and buoyant of flight than any Gull I know except the
Kittiwake & the Bonaparte's. While floating above us they frequently
thrust up one foot and scratched their heads with their claws.
Gannets were very numerous, most of them being seen on wing.
Rather more than one half were young of the year. We 
saw hundreds upon hundreds of Puffins, usually singly or in
pairs, never more than three together, invariably in the water
or flying just above it. At least one hundred Murres were seen,
oftenest in pairs, occasionally three to six or seven together.
Both Murres & Puffins would frequently allow the ship to pass
within 20 or 30 yds. without flying but they usually dove when abreast of us.
  Manx Shearwaters were seen in considerable numbers, usually
singly & invariably on wing. Their flight is exceedingly swift
and far more interesting and graceful than that of any other Petrel
known to me. In some respects it is unlike that of any bird
that I have previously seen. Beating its wings vigorously a few
times, with quick, nervous strokes, in order to get momentum
this Shearwater first bounds upward to a height of 10 or
12 feet and then descends to just above the crests of the waves
inclining rather sharply to one side as it ascends and then
to the opposite side during the downward swoop. In other words
it progresses by a series of loop-like curves, at once vertical
and horizontal, showing its earthy brown upper &