MY HAPPY FAMILY. 71 



from which it is sometimes called the " straw bird," as 

 by the sailors it is denominated the " bo'sen," from its 

 shrill cries, like a boatswain's whistle. 



Another strange bird, never seen out of tropic 

 latitudes, is the great frigate bird, the Fregata 

 aquila^ its specific name probably derived from the 

 Latin for an eagle. Though the frigate bird delights 

 in the neighborhood of high cliffs,, where its eggs 

 are deposited and the young are reared in the breed- 

 ing season, it may nearly always be seen sailing 

 high. 



It is more truly a sun lover, more an explorer of 

 the upper atmosphere, than the eagle himself. It 

 sails on scarce-moving wings for hours at a time, 

 circling higher and higher, until finally a mere speck 

 in the sky, then lost to sight entirely. 



These man-o'-war birds, as the sailors call them, 

 are seldom seen to alight, except in the height of the 

 breeding season, during the period of incubation, or 

 at night as they return to their roosting places. They 

 leave the cliffs at early dawn and fly far out at sea, 

 returning at evening in great numbers. The black 

 hunters shoot them as they soar above the headlands 

 or fly along the shore and at the mouths of rivers, 

 where they sometimes come to drink and fish. 



The tropic birds sailed high in air or darted 

 athwart the sky, rarely visiting the bay, making their 

 resting places in the rocks on either side ; but the 

 water was always enlivened by the presence of the 

 terns, or sea swallows. They flew screaming over the 

 surface, dove into the water after small fry, and after 



