94 SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATIONS [Dra 



Every Condition has its Drawbacks. 



The man-of-war or frigate-bird is virtually nothing more than 

 wings, scarcely any body barely as large as that of the 

 domestic cock while his prodigious pinions are fifteen feet in 

 span. The great problem of flight is solved and overpassed, for 

 the power of flight seems useless. Such a bird, naturally sus- 

 tained by such supports, need but allow himself to be borne 

 along. The storm bursts ; he mounts to lofty heights where he 

 finds tranquillity. When he chooses to oar his way seriously, 

 all distance vanishes : he breakfasts at the Senegal, he dines in 

 America. He may continue his progress through the night 

 indefinitely, certain of reposing himself. Upon what 1 On his 

 huge motionless wing, which takes upon itself all the weariness 

 of the voyage ; or on the wind, his slave, which eagerly hastens 

 to cradle him. This strange being is gifted with the proud 

 prerogative of fearing nothing in this world. Little, but strong 

 and intrepid, he braves all the tyrants of the air. He can 

 despise, if need be, the pygargue and the condor ; those huge, 

 unwieldy creatures will with great difficulty have put themselves 

 in motion when he shall have already achieved a distance of ten 

 leagues. From all this it might be concluded that this bird was 

 a type of freedom worthy of envy, and that its condition was 

 nearly perfect. But, as often happens in other cases which we 

 consider exempt from disadvantages, a little more information 

 suggests a different judgment. Every condition of life whether 

 that of statesmen, authors, travellers, or birds, beasts, and fishes 

 has its drawbacks. It is so with this frigate-bird. If we exa- 

 mine it a little closer we shall find to our astonishment that, 

 when contemplated from near at hand, this bird, the first of the 

 winged kingdom, has nothing of the serenity which a free life 

 promises. His eye is cruelly hard, severe, mobile, unquiet. 

 His vexed attitude is that of some unhappy sentinel doomed, 

 under pain of death, to keep watch over the infinity of ocean. 

 On looking at him closely you perceive that he has no feet ; or, 

 at all events, feet which, being palmate and exceedingly short, 

 can neither walk nor perch. With a formidable beak, he has 

 not the talons or strength of a true eagle of the sea. He strikes 

 and slays ; can he seize ? Thus, then, this being, so well armed 



