368 HISTORY OF 



as it can take by surprise. It preys, as all the 

 gull kind do, upon the wing ; and chiefly pursues 

 the flying-fish, that are forced from the sea by the 

 dolphins. The ocean in that part of the world 

 presents a very different appearance from the seas 

 with which we are surrounded. In our seas we 

 see nothing but a dreary expanse, ruffled by winds, 

 and seemingly forsaken by every class of animated 

 nature. But the tropical seas, and the distant 

 south latitudes beyond them, are all alive with 

 birds and fishes, pursuing and pursued. Every 

 various species of the gull kind are there seen 

 hovering on the wing, at a thousand miles distance 

 from the shore. The flying-fish are every mo- 

 ment rising to escape from their pursuers of the 

 deep, only to encounter equal dangers in the air. 

 Just as they rise, the dolphin is seen to dart after 

 them, but generally in vain ; the gull has more 

 frequent success, and often takes them at their 

 rise ; while the albatross pursues the gull, and 

 obliges it to relinquish its prey: so that the 

 whole horizon presents but one living picture of 

 rapacity and evasion. 



So much is certain ; but how far we are to cre- 

 dit Wicquefort in what he adds concerning this 

 bird, the reader is left to determine. " As these 

 birds, except when they breed, live entirely re- 

 mote from land, so they are often seen, as it should 

 seem, sleeping in the air. At night, when they 

 are pressed by slumber, they rise into the clouds 

 as high as they can ; there, putting their head 

 under one wing, they beat the air with the other, 

 and seem to take their ease. After a time, how- 



