FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 123 
energy and fit for more active employment than feeding 
petrels from the taffrail. 
We were anxious to catch some of these birds to 
examine them closely. So I took a fine Tweed cast and 
baited the flies with small pieces of pork skin and trolled 
with it. The oily spots the fat made on the water created 
great excitement amongst our little black followers, and 
they dabble'd their delicate black kid legs about the 
hooks and picked at the bait, till one of them lifted the 
cast out of the water and foul-hooked a neighbour by 
the leg, another was caught by a wing-feather, and we 
pulled them on deck as if we were pulling butterflies, 
the resistance they offered was so slight. A single drop 
of chloroform gave their little nerves eternal rest. The 
presence of these birds is generally supposed to be a sign 
of storm. We find that during a gale there are always 
numbers round our stern, apparently feeding on the 
minute crustaceans aiid sea bells that we turn up in our 
course. In fine, calm weather they seemed to spread out 
over the sea and hunt in wider beats ; but rough or 
smooth, from St. Kilda in the north, we have had them 
always with us. The men think they have some other 
than earthly relations. Is it not wonderful how these 
delicate, fragile birds, only about a third of the size of a 
blackbird, can keep the sea thousands of miles from land, 
flickering up the side of the steep grey waves, dipping 
their dainty black beaks and paddling with their delicate 
feet in the carded foam as if the howling gale that is 
tearing our canvas is a mere breath to them. I think 
they enjoy the cold, rough days. Their movements then 
