THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 321 



for itself; precluded, however, from plunging into 

 the sea; it can take only sucli as, like the Fly in g- 

 n*sh, leap into another element. With such suc- 

 cess, however, does it attack these, that it has been 

 seen to snap up three in succession in the course 

 of a few minutes. If, after having captured a fish, 

 it is awkwardly placed in the beak, it hesitates 

 not to drop it, secure of seizing it again in the 

 descent. 



To the immense congregations of aquatic birds, 

 for the purpose of hatching and rearing their young 

 in places congenial to their habits, allusion has 

 already been made; and the following picture, vividly 

 drawn by the pen of an accomplished naturalist, is 

 probably not overcharged. 



Le Vaillant, on visiting the tomb of a Danish 

 captain at Saldanha Bay, near the Cape of Good 

 Hope, beheld, after wading through the surf, and 

 clambering up the rocks, such a spectacle as he 

 supposed had never appeared to the eye of mortal. 

 "All of a sudden, there arose from the whole sur- 

 face of the island an impenetrable cloud, which 

 formed, at the distance of forty feet above our heads, 

 an immense canopy, or rather a sky, composed of 

 birds of every species, and of all colours; — cormo- 

 rants, sea-gulls, sea-swallows, pelicans, and, I believe, 

 the whole winged tribe of that part of Africa, 

 was here assembled. All their voices mingled to- 

 gether, and, modified according to their different 

 kinds, formed such a horrid music, that I was every 

 moment obliged to cover my head to give a little 

 relief to my ears. The alarm which we spread was 



