OMENS FROM BIRDS 309 



heaven's messenger, and it was decided to keep it 

 alive with care.' There was no fresh meat in the 

 vessel, and the ship's company, who had been fight- 

 ing their vessels all the afternoon, * were soon in 

 a bustle to hunt for rats,' a circumstance which is 

 properly noted as evidence of the ' inexhaustible 

 energy of the officers and men of the Imperial 

 Navy.' To wind up a battle with a rat-hunt is 

 a form of exuberance which is not recorded even of 

 British seamen. For the omen, such as it was, came 

 not when men's nerves were over -strung with the 

 expectation of battle, or to cheer them in the fight, 

 but just at the moment of reaction, when even 

 Marryat admits that the energies of a ship's com- 

 pany are at their lowest. The Japanese captain had 

 the instinct of a great commander. Neither pious 

 jEneas nor Julius Caesar could have 'accepted the 

 omen ' at a more auspicious moment. When Rodney 

 engaged De Grasse in the 'Ville de Paris,' at the 

 great battle off Martinique, we read that the British 

 Admiral ' had on board a favourite bantam-cock, which 

 stood perched upon the poop of the " Formidable " 

 during the whole action ; its shrill voice crowing 

 through the thunder of the broadsides.' This was 

 an even happier omen than that of the hawk, but 

 we do not hear that the bantam was sent to head- 

 quarters, or even mentioned in the Gazette. But by 



