Flight of Certain Sea-Birds

Extract

“Among the problems with which science has not as yet succeeded in dealing satisfactorily is that of the flight of birds,and especially the flight of those birds which float for long periods of time without any apparent movement of their wings. During my voyage from San Francisco to Honolulu (which latter place, by the way, I had not reached at the moment of writing to the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, 2.20 p.m., April 17th, ship time—lat. about 26° 35' and long, about 145° west, so that Greenwich time is about midnight, April 17th), I have noted with much interest the flight of the birds—the sailors call them molly–hawks—which follow the ship apparently without ceasing, except for an occasional short rest on the water.