226 CASSELT.'S BOOK OF BIRDS. 



unsuccessful it is compelled to resort to a system of plundering other sea-birds. The quiet and 

 industrious tribes, the Gannets and Sea Swallows (Sterna hirtmdo, Linn.), are generally selected as 

 objects of attack, and on returning to their haunts to feed their young brood, after having been out 

 fishing all day, are stopped in mid-air by the marauding Frigate Bird, and compelled to deliver up 

 some of their prey, which, being disgorged by them, is most dexterously caught by the plunderer 

 before it reaches the water. A Frigate Bird has been observed to soar over the mast-head of a ship, 

 and tear away the pieces of coloured cloth appended to the vane. 



" About the middle of May," says Audubon, " a period which to me appeared very late for birds 

 found in so warm a climate as the Florida Keys, the Frigate Pelicans assemble in flocks of from fifty 

 to five hundred pairs or more. They are seen flying at a great height over the islands on which they 

 have bred many previous seasons, courting for hours together, after which they return towards the 

 mangroves, alight on them, and at once begin to repair the old nests or construct new ones. They 

 pillage each other's nests of their materials, and make excursions for more to the nearest Keys. They 

 break the dry twigs of a tree with ease, passing swiftly on wing and snapping them off by a single 

 grasp of their powerful bill. It is indeed a beautiful sight to see them when thus occupied, especially 

 when several are so engaged, passing and repassing with the swiftness of thought over the trees whose 

 tops are blasted ; their purpose appears accomplished as if by magic. It sometimes happens that this 

 bird accidentally drops a stick while travelling towards its nest, when, if this should happen over the 

 water, it plunges after it, and seizes it with its bill before it has reached the waves. The nests are usually 

 placed on the south side of the Keys, and on such trees as hang over the water, some low, others 

 high ; several in a single tree, or only one, according to the size of the mangrove, but in some cases 

 lining the whole island. They are composed of sticks crossing each other, to the height ©f about two 

 inches, and are flattish, but not very large. When the birds are incubating, their long wings and tails 

 are seen extending beyond the nest for more than a foot. The eggs are two or three — more frequently 

 the latter — in number, measure two inches and seven-eighths in length, two in breadth, being thus of 

 a rather elongated form, and have a thick smooth shell of a greenish white colour, frequently soiled 

 with the filth of the nests. The young are covered with yellowish white down, and look at first as if 

 they had no feet. They are fed by regurgitation, but grow tardily, and do not leave the nest until 

 they are able to follow their parents on the wing." 



" The Frigate Pelican," continues the same authority, "is possessed of a power of flight which I 

 imagine superior perhaps to that of any other bird. However swiftly the Cayenne Tern, the smaller 

 Gulls, or the Jager move on wing, it seems a matter of mere sport to it to overtake any of them. The 

 Goshawk, the Peregrine, and the Gyr Falcon, which I conceive to be the swiftest of our Hawks, are 

 obliged to pursue their victim, should it be a Green-winged Teal, or Passenger Pigeon, at times for 

 half a mile at the highest pitch of their speed before they can secure it. The bird of which I speak 

 comes from on high with the velocity of a meteor, and on nearing the object of its pursuit, which its 

 keen eye has spied out while fishing at a distance, darts on either side to cut off all retreat, and with 

 open bill forces it to drop or disgorge the fish which it has just caught. Upon one occasion I 

 observed a Frigate Bird that had forced a Cayenne Tern, yet in sight, to drop a fish ; which the broad- 

 winged warrior had seized as it fell ; this fish was rather large for the Tern, and might probably be 

 about eight inches in length ; the Frigate Bird mounted with it across his bill about a hundred yards, 

 and then, tossing it up, caught it as it fell, but not in the proper manner ; he therefore dropped it, but 

 before it had fallen many yards caught it again. Still it was not in a good position, the weight of the 

 head, it seemed, having prevented the bird from seizing it by that part. A second time the fish was 

 thrown upward, and now at last was received in a convenient manner, that is, with its head downwards, 

 and swallowed. These birds are gregarious, and utter a rough croaking cry," 



