48 Poachers and Poaching. 



granite, and trap fragments, swallowed most 

 likely to promote digestion. 



But surely the lord of the winged race is the 

 bird which does not rest ; and this may almost 

 be said of the man-of-war or frigate bird. He is 

 a navigator who never reaches his bourne, and 

 from his almost ceaseless flight it would seem 

 as though earth and sea were equally prohibited 

 to him. To a bird with such an immense 

 and superior wing apparatus, the metaphor, " he 

 sleeps upon the storm," becomes almost literal. 

 This black, solitary bird is nearly nothing more 

 than wings, his prodigious pinions measuring 

 fifteen feet, even surpassing those of the condor 

 of the Andes. Although sometimes seen four 

 hundred leagues from land, the frigate bird is said 

 to return every night to its solitary roost. 



Of all birds, the albatross has, perhaps, the 

 most extended powers of flight. It has been 

 known to follow a vessel for several successive 

 days without once touching the water except to 

 pick up floating food ; and even then it does not 

 rest. In describing the flight of this bird from 

 personal observation, Captain Hutton writes as 

 follows: " The flight of the albatross is truly 

 majestic, as with outstretched motionless wings 

 he sails over the surface of the sea now rising 

 high in the air, now with a bold sweep and wings 

 inclined at an angle with the horizon, descending 

 until the tip of the lower one all but touches the 



