FRIGATE-BIRD. 423 



describe it under the present article; for though 

 the trees are common to the three species, the former 

 two frequent the place less numerously, and less 

 constantly than the Frigates. At most hours of 

 the day, one either sees a large number of these 

 birds resting on the lofty trees, or else soaring and 

 circling round and round over the place. Occa- 

 sionally, in the middle of the day we see half a 

 dozen sailing at an immense height in the air; 

 where their size and colour, the graceful free- 

 dom of their motions, and the sublimity of their 

 elevation, might cause them to be confounded with 

 the John Crow Vulture, were it not for the cur- 

 vature of their wings, the long-pointed tail, often 

 opened and closed, and a superior elegance in their 

 general form. 



Being desirous of knowing at what hour the 

 Frigates came home to the roosting place, I vi- 

 sited it on several evenings. On the first occasion, 

 arriving there just as the sun was setting, I found 

 I was not sufficiently early to witness the con- 

 gregating of the birds, for my ears were saluted, 

 even when in the high-road, by the loud and un- 

 pleasant croaking of the Boobies. On my getting 

 to the foot of the first Birch-tree, I could dis- 

 cern many of these sitting on the branches ; but 

 as the view was much intercepted by the bushes 

 and trees around, I scrambled down the shingly 

 precipice, to the sea-side. Then on looking up 

 I saw the boughs of the birch immediately over 

 my head, studded with these noisy birds, preen- 

 ing their plumage, or scolding and fighting harshly 



