1909.
Oct. 6 [October 6, 1909]
(No 3)
or adopting any manner of flight in the least different
from that of the rest as far as I could see although
it might mean for the distance of a hundred yards
at a speed twice as great as that of any [of] the rest.
  Manx Shearwaters were constantly in sight, all day. Their numbers
steadily increased as we moved westward along the south coast
of Ireland and late in the afternoon as we were passing the
last outlying rocks & entering the open ocean we saw them
literally by thousands. Hitherto they had been scattered about
but here they were collected in swarms over tidal rips where 
the water was extremely rough under the influence of the
strong south west wind. Most of them were so far off (one to
three miles) that I could not watch them closely but they
seemed to be feeding as they swirled in clouds low over the
water. This was 15 to 20 miles from land.
  A few Gannets and Puffins were seen during the day. No
land birds came aboard or very near the ship except
the flock of Larks seen in Queenstown Harbor.