e seen is the frigate bird, also called
the man-of-war bird, which appears to me to be a good deal of a pirate,
as it makes the most of its living by robbing others. When another bird
has caught a fish the frigate bird attacks him, and takes away his
prize, catching it in the air as it falls from the victim's claws. These
birds follow the steamer or fly in the air above it, and they seem to go
along very easily, although the ship is running at full speed. I am told
that, on the previous voyage of this ship, some of the sailors caught
two of these birds and marked them by attaching strips of white cloth to
their feet. Then the birds were set free, and they followed the steamer
four or five days without any apparent fatigue.

"Of course we have seen 'Mother Carey's Chickens.' These tireless little
fellows, that never seem to rest, are found in all parts of the world of
waters. They have been constantly about us, flying around the ship but
never settling upon it, and dipping occasionally into the waters behind
us to gather up crumbs or particles of food. The other birds, which are
all much larger, would like to deprive them of their sustenance, but
they do not have the quickness of the little flyers on the wing. When
anything is thrown overboard, they dart as quick as a flash under the
noses of the larger and more clumsy birds, and pick up a mouthful or
two before the latter can reach them. Then there are whale birds, and
cape pigeons, and also the cape dove, which is somewhat larger than the
pigeon, and is also known as the 'fulmar petrel.'

"But the most interesting as well as the largest of all the ocean birds
is the albatross. There are two or three kinds of this bird; the largest
of them has a spread of wing varying from twelve to fifteen feet, and
one has been caught measuring seventeen feet from tip to tip. With
outspread wings, his body, as he sails about in the air, looks as large
as a barrel, but when stripped of its feathers its size diminishes very
much. We offered to pay a good price to the sailors if they would catch
an albatross for us, but they declined our proposal to catch one, and
when a passenger one day wanted to shoot one which was directly over the
steamer, the sailors objected. We finally induced them to compromise the
matter by catching an albatross and letting it go unharmed.

"They baited a hook with a piece of pork which was attached to a long
line, and then allowed to tow behind the steamer. W