132 Transactions. — Zoology. 



warlike, he lives fearlessly near the frigate, and swallows 

 the fish which he has captured in peace." 



Cuvier, Buffon, and Temminck, on the contrary, give cre- 

 dence to the narratives of the frigate's persecution, and, in- 

 deed, it is difficult to believe that so many eye-witnesses should 

 be mistaken. 



Feuilk'e says, "I have had the pleasure of seeing the 

 frigates give chase to the boobies. When they return in bands 

 in the evening from their fishing the frigates are in waiting, 

 and, dashing upon them, compel them all to cry for succour, 

 as it were, and in crying to disgorge some of the fish they are 

 carrying to their young ones. Thus do the frigates profit by 

 the fishing of the boobies, which they then leave to pursue 

 their way home." 



Legnat, in his Voyage, writes thus: "The boobies come to 

 repose at night upon the Island Eodriguez, and the frigates, 

 which are huge birds, so called from their lightness and speed 

 in sailing through the air, wait for the boobies every evening 

 on the tops of the trees. They rise, on the approach of the 

 latter, very high in the air, and dash down upon them like a 

 falcon on his prey, not to kill them, but to make them dis- 

 gorge. The booby struck in this manner by the frigate gives 

 up his fish, which the frigate catches in the air. The booby 

 often shrieks, and shows his unwillingness to abandon his 

 prey ; but the frigate mocks at his cries, and, rising, dashes 

 down upon him anew till he has compelled the booby to obey." 



"William Dampier observes that he remarked that the man- 

 of-war birds and the boobies always left sentinels near their 

 young ones, especially while the old birds were gone to sea on 

 their fishing-expeditions, and that there were a great number 

 of sick or crippled man-of-war birds which appeared to be no 

 longer in a state to go out for provisions. They dwelt not 

 with the rest of their species, and, whether they were excluded 

 from their society or had separated themselves voluntarily, 

 they were dispersed in various places, waiting apparently for 

 an opportunity of pillage. He adds that one day he saw more 

 than twenty on one of the islands (the Alcranes), which from 

 time to time made sorties to procure boot5^ The man-of-war 

 bird that surprised a young booby without its guard gave it a 

 great peck upon the back to make it disgorge — which it instantly 

 did — a fish or two as big as one's wrist, which the old man-of- 

 war bird quickly swallowed. He further speaks of the perse- 

 cution of the parent boobies by the able-bodied frigate-bird, and 

 says that he himself saw a frigate fly right against a booby, 

 and with one blow of its bill make the booby give up a fish 

 just swallowed, upon w^hich the frigate darted with such 

 celerity that he seized it before it reached the water. 



Catesby and others mention seeing similar encounters. 



