96 RAPIDITY OF FLIGHT. 



thousand miles, or often at greater distances, from 

 land. Three of the most remarkable of these wild 

 wanderers are the Albatross (Diomedea exulans) , the 

 Tropic-Bird (Phaeton Phcenicurus\ and the Frigate- 

 Bird ( Tachypetes aquila). The first of these, the 

 Albatross, the largest of the aquatic tribe, with 

 plumage of the most delicate white, except the back 

 and tops of its wings, which are of a dark gray, 

 floats in the air, borne up by a vast expanse of wing, 

 measuring fourteen feet or even more, from tip to 

 tip. The air and the water, indeed, seem to be far 

 more natural to it than the land, where it is so help- 

 less, owing to its enormous length of wing, which 

 prevents it from rising, unless it can launch itself 

 from a steep precipice or projecting rock, that it is 

 completely at the mercy of those who approach, and 

 one blow on the head generally kills it instantly. 



The Tropic-Bird is the very reverse of the heavy 

 gigantic Albatross, and might fairly be called the 

 fairy of the ocean; seen as it is in the genial lati- 

 tudes of the warmest climates of the globe, now a 

 stationary speck, elevated as far as the eye can 

 reach, contrasted with the dark blue of the sky, like 

 a spangle in the heavens ; then suddenly descending 

 like a falling star, and as suddenly checking its 

 course to hover for a while over the topmost point 

 of a vessel's masts, and then darting like a meteor, 

 with its two long projecting tail-feathers streaming 

 in the air, downwards on a shoal of flying-fish ; and 

 then rising gracefully with its prize, again to soar 

 aloft and take its rest above the clouds. 



But light and airy as is the Tropic-Bird, what 

 shall we say to the Frigate-Bird, which surpasses all 



