84 RAPIDITY OF FLIGHT. 



is the case may be presumed from its habits ; for when 

 the lower currents of air are stormy and disagreeable, up 

 goes the Frigate-Bird to a higher and calmer current, 

 where, just as we see the light fleecy clouds in the 

 sky, it remains, suspended with outspread wing, motion- 

 less, and at rest, till roused by hunger, it expels the 

 rarefied air, and emptying its pouch, descends towards 

 the waves; but as it never either dives or swims, on 

 approaching within a few feet, it instantly stops, and 

 changes its direction, so as to skim along and catch the 

 flying-fish with its hawk -like bill or talons, or both toge- 

 ther. So averse are they, in fact, to diving, or even 

 touching the water, that, instead of dashing downwards 

 head foremost, like the Gannet and other diving birds, 

 the Frigate-Bird holds its neck and feet in a horizontal 

 direction; striking the upper column of air with its 

 wings, then raising and closing them one against the 

 other above its back, it darts on the flying-fish with such 

 skill arid certainty, as almost invariably to ensure suc- 

 cess. 



Most travellers who have visited Constantinople, by 

 the passage of the Dardanelles and the Sea of Marmora, 

 may have noticed a bird not quite so large as a Pigeon, 

 abundant in that neighbourhood, though occasionally 

 seen in other parts of the Archipelago, as at Napoli and 

 Vourla, which must have excited their curiosity and sur- 

 prise. " Every day," says one of the many authors who 

 have noticed it, " they are to be seen in numerous flocks, 

 passing up and down the Bosphorus with great rapidity. 

 When they arrive either at the Black Sea, or Sea of 

 Marmora, they again wheel about, and return up the 

 channel, and this course they continue, without a mo- 

 ment's intermission, the whole day. They are never 

 seen to alight, either on land or water; they never for 

 a moment deviate from their course, or slacken their 

 speed; are never known to search for, or take any food; 

 and no visible cause can be assigned for the extraordi- 

 nary and restless instinct by which they are haunted. 



