A Living Balloon 407 



another in a particularly awkward-looking way, as 

 if they were only meant to be kept expanded. The 

 tail is a little longer than the body, and composed 

 of a few strong feathers, which the bird, when on the 

 wing, manipulates in a striking way. When hovering 

 high in air with wings wide-spread and motionless, 

 the tail is seen to divide in the middle, the two halves 

 separating widely and closing again to a point, exactly 

 as the blades of a pair of scissors do. In fact, if I had 

 been going to give this bird a trivial name based upon 

 his most noticeable characteristic, I think I should 

 have called him the ' scissor-bird.' The purpose 

 served by this peculiar movement of the tail is, I 

 think, obvious enough ; it is for steering purposes, 

 while the wings remain immobile. 



The beak, as usual with raptorial birds, is long, 

 powerful, and hooked at the end. In colour it is a 

 dirty white, and the edges of both mandibles are 

 exceedingly sharp. Underneath the beak is a most 

 curious appendage of the colour of blood, glaring 

 against the dark background of the body. At first 

 sight it appears as if, like the pelican, the Frigate 

 Bird possessed a pouch for the holding of food, except 

 that the Frigate Bird's pouch does not commence 

 on the lower mandible or half of the beak, but just 

 below where the beak joins the head, on the neck. 

 Generally it is invisible, but while the bird is soaring 

 a watcher will see the crimson netlike bag suddenly 

 become inflated, until it looks almost portentous in 

 its size as compared with that of the bird. There 

 can be no doubt whatever that it is part of the creature's 

 provision for remaining in the air so still as it does 

 at great heights, just a bladder capable at the will of 

 its possessor of being filled with air. And yet I cannot 

 help thinking that there is some flaw in^this^argument. 



