MAK OF WAU BIRD. 
lightning, not quite to the water; but, when 
it has come within ten or twelve fathoms, it 
makes a great bend, sinks gradually till it 
razes the sea, and catches the little fish, either 
flying or in the water, with it's bill crit^s ta« 
Ions, and often with both.'* 
With this, Capt. Cooke's account perfectly 
agrees — ** The Dolphins and Bonettoes," says 
our great circumnavigator, " pursued the 
shoals of Flying-Fish, as we have observed in 
the Atlantic Ocean : while several large black 
birds, with long wings and a forked tail, 
usually called Man of War Birds, rose very 
high in the air; and, darting down, with sur- 
prising swiftness, on the fish which they per- 
ceived swimming, never failed to strike their 
prey.'^ 
BufFon observes — It is between the Tro- 
pics only, or a little beyond them, that we find 
the Frigate, in the seas of both continents. 
He maintains a sort of empire over the birds 
of the Torrid Zone. He obliges many, such 
as the Boobies, to provide for him: and, 
striking them with his wing, or biting then; 
with 
