Couriers of the Air. 49 



crests of the waves as he skims over them. I 

 have sometimes watched narrowly one of these 

 birds sailing and wheeling about in all directions 

 for more than an hour without seeing the slight- 

 est movement of the wings, and have never 

 witnessed anything to equal the ease and grace 

 of this bird as he sweeps past, often within a few 

 yards every part of his body perfectly motion- 

 less except the head and eye, which turn slowly 

 and seem to take notice of everything. ' Tranquil 

 its spirit seemed and floated slow ; even in its 

 very motion there was rest.' ' But these birds 

 and the frigate bird are sea and ocean species, 

 and, with rare exceptions, are able to rest upon 

 the waters. This, however, cannot be said of 

 many of the land birds, and here observation is 

 easier. 



As an antithesis to the apparently lifeless wings 

 of the albatross, Pettigrew compares the cease- 

 less activity of those of the humming-bird. In 

 these delicate and exquisitely beautiful birds, the 

 wings, according to Gould, move so rapidly 

 when the bird is poised before an object that it 

 is impossible for the eye to follow each stroke, 

 and a hazy circle of indistinctness on each side 

 the bird is all that is perceptible. / When a 

 humming-bird flies in a horizontal direction, it 

 occasionally proceeds with such velocity as 

 altogether to elude observation. Mention of 

 the calm majestic flight of the albatross suggests 



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