112 A NATURALIST OJST DESERT ISLANDS. 



disgorge the fish they have caught, as in the case of the 

 skua or robber-gull. They constantly do this ; but they 

 live a good deal on floating animal refuse, which they pick 

 daintily off the surface. I have also seen them dive for 

 fish near the surface ; and once watched one chase and 

 capture a fine flying fish in half a gale of wind. Several 

 of them attempted to take Lady Wilton's spinning bait 

 when she was trolling for queen-fish here, actually picking 

 it up out of the water and sailing ofl with it and the line ; 

 a procedure which caused her ladyship considerable 

 anguish " for fear that they should be hooked through 

 the tongue." 



I was told by the islanders, that if by any mischance 

 a bird happens to find itself in the water it is very seldom 

 able to rise again, unless there is a fresh breeze ; and it 

 sooner or later perishes. Considering the fact that these 

 birds are provided with webbed feet, wliich at some stage in 

 their evolution they must have made use of for swimming, 

 this indeed does seem a very strange thing ; but I beHeve 

 it to be true. Certainly one has never seen these brids 

 swimming. It would be interesting to ascertain if their 

 young do. Mr. F. M. Chapman has remarked that the 

 young of the common tern swim actively and with evident 

 enjoyment ; whereas, as is well known, the adult rarely 

 ahghts on the water. 



Another strange thing, considering their inimitable 

 powers of flight, is the statement, vouched for by the 

 islanders, that sometimes in very gusty weather they 

 have seen a frigate-bird blown head over heels and fall 

 helplessly into the water. They seem completely to 

 lose their balance, or to be taken "flat aback " like a sailing 

 ship in a sudden shift of wind. Whenever there was a 

 strong wind, the frigate-birds, we noticed, always kept 

 to the leeward side of the islands. 



It was under the frigate-bird rookeries that we first 

 made the acquaintance of the Swan Island rat. This rat 

 is of an extremely mild and almost genial disposition ; 

 has a head and body very much after the style of an enor- 



