Song Birds and Water Fowl 



length of three and a half feet, found hundreds 

 of miles out to sea, and said by Audubon to be 

 the swiftest of all birds in the world. I can- 

 not more appropriately close this resume of 

 water fowl than by quoting from this enthusi- 

 astic writer a fine description of this strange 

 and beautiful species. "When the morning 

 light gladdens the face of Nature, and while 

 the warblers are yet waiting in silence the first 

 rays of the sun, whose appearance they will 

 hail with joy, the frigate bird on extended 

 pinions sails from his roosting place. Toward 

 the vast deep he moves, rising apace, and, be- 

 fore any other bird, views the bright orb 

 emerge from the waters. Pure is the azure of 

 the heavens, and rich the deep green of the 

 smooth sea below; and now the glad bird 

 shakes his pinions, and far up into the air, far 

 beyond the reach of man's unaided eye, he 

 soars in his quiet but rapid flight. There he 

 floats in the pure air, but thither can fancy 

 alone follow him. But now I see him again, 

 with half- closed wings, gently falling tow- 

 ard the sea. He pauses awhile, and again 

 dives through the air. Thrice, four times, has 

 he gradually approached the surface of the 

 ocean. Now he shakes his pinions, then sweeps 



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