﻿VOICE. 



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when compared to the size of the body, is almost with- 

 out parallel, excepting, perhaps,in the swifts. The flight 

 of the eagle, strong, majestic, and beautiful, as it cer- 

 tainly is, cannot be compared to that of the frigate 

 birds either for grace, celerity, or loftiness. Few will 

 be disposed to believe this assertion until, by crossing 

 the tropics, they become eye witnesses of the astonishing 

 powers of flight which nature has bestowed on these 

 birds. They seem to delight in that war of elements 

 which would overpower almost all other birds, but 

 which to them appears the season of pastime. At one 

 moment the frigate bird may be barely perceptible as 

 a moving speck above the mast, while the next, a sudden 

 splash in the wave will tell that it has fallen upon a fish, 

 or caught one that had been previously captured by the 

 boobie, who had relinquished it on the appearance of 

 this irresistible flyer. It has been said, and we be- 

 lieve the fact, that the frigate bird has been seen near 

 a thousand miles from any known land, for the rapidity 

 with which it flies appeared to us far greater than that 

 of the swallow, and to be effected with scarcely any 

 motion or beating of the wings. Thus has nature ad- 

 hered to her law. No birds in this order are gifted 

 with such extraordinary powers in their wings as these 

 two ; and to no birds are the usual functions of the 

 feet so much denied. 



(140.) The song or the language of birds, has been 

 a subject of fruitful speculation among the French writers, 

 and a useful abstract of what they have advanced will 

 be found in some of our recent compilations ; neverthe- 

 less, there is much of error, and some exageration, in these 

 statements. The subject is in many respects interesting, 

 but, as it is more physiological than scientific, we shall 

 in this place treat it with brevity : passing over what 

 has already been published, for the purpose of treating 

 the subject with reference to the natural classification of 

 these songsters. The powers of voice are certainly 

 greater in birds, when their size is considered, than in 

 any other class of animals, or even in man. This 

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