THE BOOBIES. 119 



learned to know their chief enemy; but fufferthemfelves to be taken, not 

 only when at fea, reding on parts of fhips, but on land, where they are 

 killed in great numbers by blows with a ftick ; no one taking warning 

 by obfervation of what happens to others,- nor turning away from thofc 

 who thus flaughter their companions. To what caufe this muft be at- 

 tributed is unknown : the difficulty of putting in motion their wings^ in 

 order to rife, which fome fjggeft, feems inadequate to this purpofe. Not 

 only man is their enemy ; they are fcarcely lefs perfecuted by the frigate 

 bird, who, darting upon them when flying, purfuing them without re- 

 miflion, and beating them with bill and wings, forces them to yield 

 their prey, v;hich is fwallowed by their conqueror ; for whom, perhaps, 

 they labour a fecond time for other prey, in like manner taken from them. 



The booby fifhes by flying fteadily over the water, and falling on the 

 fifh the moment he perceives it near the furface. They inhabit iHands 

 even the moft diftant from other land. In form they pretty much refem- 

 ble the cormorant ; their bill is remarkable, in that the fuperior mandi- 

 ble is, as it were, articulated, and compofed of three pieces, joined by 

 two futures j that next the point giving fomewhat the appearance of a 

 nail to the tip of the bill; that next the head is fo loofe as to permit the 

 former part of the bill to open two inches, v/ithout any motion in the 

 under chap. Their cry is ftrong, between the crow and the goofe ; it ii 

 generally excited by fear. When flying, they fl:retch out the neck, and 

 -Ipread the tail : muft have fome little rifing, from whence to take flight : 

 they perch on trees. Dampier even fays, they-nellle on trees in the ifle of 

 Aves ; elfewhere they neftle on the ground, multitudes together ; lav one 

 or two eggs; the young are long covered with a very foft white down. 



The booby of the Antilles is lefs than a goofe ; about two feet five 

 inches long, bill four inches and a half, the naked ikin round the eye 

 yellow ; as alfo the bafe of the bill, its point brown ; the feet pale yel- 

 low ; the belly white ; the reft of the plumage afli-coloured brown. One 

 kind is white. The greater booby in fize equals a goofe ; is fix feet 

 from tip to tip of its wings ; plumage deep brown, fprinkled with white 

 fpots on the head ; larger fpots on the breaft and back. Inhabits the 

 coaft of Florida. Dives deeply, and is thought to be often attacked and 

 devoured by ftiarks and other voracious fiflies. 



Part IV. No. 27. X THE 



