. Creatures of the sea [microform] : being the life stories of some sea birds, beasts, and fishes. Marine animals; Marine fishes; Faune marine; Poissons de mer. 360 Cape Pigeons and Whale Birds So I stole up on the poop, and leaning over the taffrail, cast my lure. It sank slowly but not out of sight of one of the busy little birds, which was presently in my trembling hands. I took it down on the main- deck and played with it, no doubt to its intense misery and the bewilderment of our two big dogs. The only excuse I can make for this cruel behaviour to one of the free and essentially harmless
. Creatures of the sea [microform] : being the life stories of some sea birds, beasts, and fishes. Marine animals; Marine fishes; Faune marine; Poissons de mer. 360 Cape Pigeons and Whale Birds So I stole up on the poop, and leaning over the taffrail, cast my lure. It sank slowly but not out of sight of one of the busy little birds, which was presently in my trembling hands. I took it down on the main- deck and played with it, no doubt to its intense misery and the bewilderment of our two big dogs. The only excuse I can make for this cruel behaviour to one of the free and essentially harmless people of the air is thoughtless youth. But the bird was presently avenged, for an elderly American seaman, whom I only remember as Nat, came noiselessly behind me, and seizing my ear in one hand, took the pretty frightened creature from me with the other, saying solemnly: * Boy. hasn't anybody told ye that the meanest and lowest thing ye can do is to worry, amioy, and kill these lovely feathered things ? They do no harm, they're not good to eat, and they brighten up and make cheerful the great ocean soUtudes.' As he spoke he cast the bird into the air, and giving my ear such a tweak that I almost thought it had come off, stalked solemnly away. He was a pretty good man, was old Nat. I ran to the side and peeped over to see what had become of my late prisoner, and there within a biscuit's throw of the ship sat my late captive calmly restoring his feathers to their usual unruffled condition after their disarrangement by my rough handling. I have never molested another Cape Pigeon, although I have often seen it done. During a tremendous westerly gale the great company of sea-birds which had so long followed the lumbering, heavy progress of an old barque that certainly should not have been sailing in those stem latitudes at all, had gradually dwindled away until only one faithful pair of Cape Pigeons Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images th
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectmarineanimals, bookye
