RAPIDITY OF FLIGHT. 77 



the Frigate-bird. The first of these, the Albatross, the largest 

 of the aquatic tribe, with plumage of the most delicate white, 

 except the back and tops of its wings, which are of a dark 

 grey, floats in the air, borne up by a vast expanse of wing, 

 measuring fourteen feet, or even more, from tip to tip. The 

 air and the water, indeed, seem to be far more natural to it 

 than the land, where it is so helpless, owing to its enormous 

 length of wing, which prevents it from rising, unless it can 

 launch itself from a steep precipice or projecting rock, that it 

 is completely at the mercy of those who approach, and one 

 blow on the head generally kills it instantly. 



The Tropic-bird is the very reverse of the heavy, gigantic 

 Albatross, and might fairly be called the fairy of the ocean, 

 seen as it is in the genial latitudes of the warmest climates of 

 the globe now a stationary speck, elevated as far as the eye 

 can reach, contrasted with the dark blue of the sky, like a 

 spangle in the heavens ; then suddenly descending like a fall- 

 ing star, and as suddenly checking its course to hover for a 

 while over the topmost point of a vessel's masts, and then 

 darting like a meteor, with its two long projecting tail-feathers 

 streaming in the air, downwards on a shoal of flying-fish ; and 

 then rising gracefully with its prize, again to soar aloft and 

 take its rest above the clouds. 



But light and airy as is the Tropic-bird, what shall we say 

 to the Frigate-bird, which surpasses all others in its powers of 

 flight, inasmuch as, excepting at the breeding season, it seldom 

 visits the land ; and still more extraordinary, is never seen to 

 swim or repose upon the waters ! Its very structure, indeed, 

 renders its living on either land or water a matter of difficulty ; 

 its wings are so long that, like the Albatross, unless perched 

 upon the pinnacle of a rock, or projecting point of a branch, it 

 cannot take flight. Neither is it adapted for a life upon the 

 waves, as its feet are but partially webbed, and in addition to 

 its length of wing, which renders it as difficult to rise from a 

 flat-water surface as from the level ground of the land, its 

 feathers are not of that close and downy texture peculiar to 

 aquatic birds, whereas its whole form and internal arrange- 



