558 
FRIGATE. 
went to sea for provision. u Of the man-of-war 
birds,” says Dampier, “ many were sick or maimed, 
and seemed unfit to procure their subsistence. They 
lived not with the rest of their kind, whether they 
were expelled from the society, or had separated 
from choice ; these were dispersed in different 
places, probably that they might have a better op- 
portunity of pillaging. I once saw more than 
twenty on one of the islands sally out from time 
to time into the open country to carry off booty, 
and they returned again almost immediately. When 
one surprised a young booby that had no guard, he 
gave it a violent peck on the back to make it dis- 
gorge, which it did instantly ; it cast up one or two 
fish about the bulk of one’s hand, which the old 
man-of-war bird swallowed still more hastily. The 
vigorous ones play the same game with the old 
boobies which they find at sea. I saw one my- 
self which flew right against a booby, and with 
one stroke of its bill made him deliver up a fish 
which he had just swallowed. The man-of war 
bird darted so rapidly as to catch it in the air before 
it could fall into the water.” 
The frigate is fitted by nature for war : he is re- 
markably strong about the legs, and is provided 
with sharp talons and a strong bill ; he flies with 
great rapidity, and his sight is very acute. This 
conformation, so well calculated to make him the 
terror of other sea-birds, was probably the reason 
why Linnaeus gave him the specific name of aquilus, 
or eagle. Though the frigate seldom swims, yet his 
