BOOBY. 



501 



The Boobies, however, notwithstanding this tribute to 

 their marine monarch, contrive to obtain an ample supply 

 of provision. They commonly hover above the surface of the 

 waves, at times scarcely moving their wings, and drop on a 

 fish the instant it emerges or approaches in view. Their 

 flight, though rapid and long sustained, is greatly inferior 

 to that of the Frigate Bird ; accordingly they do not roam 

 so far, and their appearance is generally hailed by mariners 

 as an indication of the approach of land. Yet numbers are 

 not wanting around the remotest and most sequestered isl- 

 ands in the midst of the wide ocean. There they live in 

 companies, associated with Gulls, Tropic Birds, and their 

 tyrannical persecutor the Frigate, who appreciating their 

 assistance as providers, dwell and rest in the same retreats. 



Dampier remarks, that in the Alcrane islands, on the 

 coast of Yucatan, the Boobies were crowded so thick that 

 he could not pass their haunt without being incommoded by 

 their pecking. At this time they appeared ranged in pairs 

 as if preparing to breed. When he struck them, some flew 

 away, but the greatest number remained, and could not be 

 roused to retreat by any effort. When they went out to sea 

 in quest of provision, in common with their neighbors the 

 Man-of-War Birds, they appointed sentinels to protect their 

 young. Among the Frigates, some, (probably, the males 

 after incubation,) lived in societies apart from the rest, dis- 

 persed to situations most suitable for obtaining pillage. 



The Booby utters a loud cry, something in sound betwixt 

 that of the raven and the goose ; and this quailing is heard 

 more particularly when they are pursued by the Frigate, or 

 when assembled together they happen to be seized by any 

 sudden panic. As they can only begin the motion of their 

 wings by starting from some lofty station, they usually perch 

 like Cormorants ; and, in flying, stretch out the neck, and 

 display the tail. 



