this family, the Stormy Petrel, received its name ‘“Peter’s 
bird,” because, as he, it is said to walk upon the water, 
but on this trip, the Petrels made no flight and no 
sound, and if it had not been for the subterranean investig- 
ation, the women would have believed the tale that these 
birds inhabited this island a myth; yet they feared to step 
on the yielding earth, for every step might mean death to 
a bird or the destruction of its home. Mr. Dawson gives a _ 
thrilling description of a night spent here {0 See the — 
nocturnal actions, in his “Birds of Washington.” | | 
About their heads circled many anxious birds all urging | 
the strangers to be upon their way. Far below, Pigeon 
- Guillemots and Marbled Murrelets, the latter with half- 
grown young, hatched, nobody knows where, drifted up and 
down on the long swells, while away in the distance they 
sighted a Peale Falcon, kin to the birds so popular in the 
days of chivalry. The magic of the place caught their souls | 
and held them captive, but the chief surf man, who was 
- watching the rocks beneath, gave an order which soon _ 
_ brought to a close this ereat adventure. 
With clinging, lagging feet they slid and slipped tov oe 
the bare gray cliffs to the shelf, where they shivered as they | 
watched the boat draw near their rough landing place. The 
heavy sea made the Indian surf man cautious, yet when the 
boat dropped down into the depths, as a wave left the pink 
and green tentacles of the beautiful sea-anemones bare, the 
watchers feared that he would be crushed on the jagged 
edges. His skillful paddle, however, held him steadily in just 
the right spot as he rose, and hurriedly, but safely, they, 
one after the other, took the leap into the bobbing canoe. 
87 
