TRIUMPH OF THE WING. 
THE FRIGATE BIRD. 
LET us not attempt to particularize all the 
intermediate gradations. Let us proceed to yonder 
snow-white bird, which I perceive floating on high 
among the clouds; the bird which oneseesevery where 
—on the water, on land, on rocksalternately concealed 
and exposed by the waves; the bird which one loves 
to watch, familiar as it is, and greedy, and which 
: might well be named ‘the little vulture of the seas.” 
a I speak of those myriads of petrels, or gulls, with 
Gy v whose hoarse cries every waste resounds. Find me, if 
oC you can, creatures endowed with fuller liberty. Day 
cea 
Go Se and night, south or north, sea or shore, dead prey or 
living, all is one to them. Using everything, at home everywhere, 
they indifferently display their white sails from the waves to the 
heaven; the fresh breeze, ever shifting and changing, is the boun- 
teous wind which always blows in the direction they most desire. 
