108 TRIUMPH OF THE WING. 



vast wings from one world to the other, patiently awaiting their 

 fortune, and piercing the infinite heaven the infinite waters with 

 implacable glance. 



The lord of the winged race is he who does not rest. The chief 

 of navigators is he who never reaches his bourne. Earth and sea are 

 almost equally prohibited to him. He is for ever banished. 



Let us envy nothing. No existence is really free here below, no 

 career is sufficiently extensive, no power of flight sufficiently great, 

 no wing can satisfy. The most powerful is but a temporary sub- 

 stitute. The soul waits, demands, and hopes for others : 



" Wings to soar above life '. 

 /""Wings to soar beyond death! '' 



[XoTE. The Fngate-Bird. This interesting bird (Tachypetes) is allied lo the cormor- 

 ants, but differs from them in the possession of a forked tail, short feet, a curved beak, 

 and extraordinary spread of wing. Its plumage is coloured of a rich purple black, but the 

 beak is varied with vermilion red, and the throat with patches of white. It is an inhabi- 

 tant of the Tropics, where it lives a predatory life, forcing the gannet and the gull to dis- 

 gorge their prey, and retiring to breed in lonely uninhabited islands. 



Of its voracity, Dr. Chamberlaine gives a curious illustration. When the fishermen are 

 pursuing their vocation on the sand-banks in Kingston Harbour, Jamaica, the gulls, 

 pelicans, and other sea-birds gather round in swarms, and as the loaded net is hauled 

 ashore, pounce upon their struggling prey. But no sooner does this take place, than the 

 frigate-birds attack them with such furious violence that they are glad to surrender their 

 hard-earned booty to antagonists so formidable. 



The lightness of his body, his short tarsi, his enormous spread of wing, together with 

 his long, slender, and forked tail, all combine to give this bird a superiority over his tribe, 

 not only in length and swiftness of flight, but also in the capability of maintaining himsell 

 on extended pinions in his aerial realm, where, at times, he will soar so high that his figure 

 can scarce be discerned by the spectator in this nether world. Translator.] 



