MAN OF WAR BIRD. 
with his hooked bill, he constrains theriito dis- 
gorge their prey, which he instantly catches. 
The hostilities which he commits, have led 
sailors to bestow on him the appellation of the 
Man of W ar Bird. He has the audacity even 
to set man at defiance. ** On landing at the 
" Island of the Ascension," says the Viscount 
De Querhoent, " we w^ere surrounded by a 
cloud of Frigates. With a blow of my 
^« cane, I knocked . down one, which at- 
" tempted to snatch a fish out of my hand. 
" At the same time, many of them flew a few 
^* feet above the kettle which was boiling 
ashore, and attempted to carry off the 
flesh, though a part of the ship's company 
^« attended it." 
We may suppose," ingeniously suggests 
EufPoo, " that all the palmated birds, which 
perch, have no ether object in view, than to 
commence more easily their flight: for that 
habit is not suited to the structure of their 
feet ; and it Is only on elevated points that 
they can display their enormous wings, and 
exert their pinions. Hence the Frigates retire 
to settle on the high cliffs, on woody islets, 
that 
