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[Page 585]

his dinner. One, two, three, four, five, ... a dozen of his comrades perform the same evolutions, and as a happy chattering crowd they consume all that suits their palates. Again the webbed feet pitter patter on the water the wings spread out & from the crest of a high wave the soaring begins anew, and the ship is followed as before. It is said that the same birds follow keep in the tail of a vessel for thousands of miles in the cold regions. I can quite believe it. Many a time and oft, for a landsman, have I watched them, absorbed mentally in the nature of their movements, and noting with how little apparent physical exertion and movement of the outspread feathers they used the atmosphere, be it calm or windy, to support their large heavy bodies, and to push onwards with speed many times faster than that of the steam propelled competitor. Did I tell you of the accident that happened to a big black albatross that was behind the ship in which in Febry 1914, I travelled from New Zealand to Sydney? He was gliding from side to side dipping down behind the great waves that rolled after the ship. From the hind rail of every steamer their trails about two hundred yards of thick cord, a register is on the ships end an a seires of revolving fans in a box on the other extremity; its name is the patent log & its purpose is to register the distance travelled each minute hour or day. When the waves are big the portion of this rope, near the stern, is raised high from the troughs between each pair of waves,

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