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THE TROPIC SEA-BIRDS.

compact and considerably shorter than in eagles and most other birds of the family, and those of the leg are short all round, whilst most other species have a large tuft of short feathers. The structure of the wings is also curious: in the osprey they are very long, yet length is not of itself an indication of great speed so much as the power of easy suspension in the air and of continued flight. The osprey requires to hover long over the waters, often over the open sea at some distance from land, sometimes for hours together before an opportunity for pouncing on its prey occurs. Its form, therefore, is as light as is compatible with strength.

"True to the season, o'er our sea-beat shore,
The sailing osprey high is seen to soar,
With broad unmoving wing, and, circling slow,
Marks each loose straggler in the deep below-
Sweeps down like lightning, plunges with a roar,
And bears his struggling victim to the shore."

I have now to notice another family, the Phaeton or Tropic Birds, so named because, from their habitual residence under the burning zone, bounded by the tropics, they seem attached to the chariot of the sun, to use a classical metaphor. From this climate they remove but little, and their appearance indicates to seamen their approaching passage under this zone, from whatever side they may arrive. Still, they advance seaward many hundreds of miles.

The Frigate-Bird is the representative of this species, the swiftest ranger of the ocean, whose extended wings measure a width of seven feet. How this bird treats the unfortunate "booby" (also a fish-hunter) is described by Mr. Gosse, who says:

"Every one who has read the romantic narratives of the old voyagers is familiar with the name of the booby, so termed by seamen from its apparent stupidity and familiarity, suffering itself to be knocked down by a stick, or taken by the hand when it alights, as it often does, on the spars or shrouds of a vessel. This habit seems quite unaccountable. Many birds have manifested a similar fearlessness of man when first discovered, but have soon learned the necessity of precaution; but the booby will manifest the same unnatural tameness after being long accustomed to the cruelty of

THE FRIGATE-BIRD AND THE BOOBY.

387

man. It does not arise from helplessness, as it is a bird of powerful wing, like its relative the common gannet; neither is it a sufficient explanation to affirm, as is sometimes done, that it arises from a peculiar difficulty in rising to flight after alighting, because it is not unfrequently caught in the air by the hand, so incautiously does it approach man. Notwithstanding this apparent stupidity, the booby is a dexterous fisher. Hovering over a shoal of fishes, he eagerly watches their motions, turning his head from side to side in a very ludicrous manner. He presently sees one of the unwary group approach the surface: down he pounces like a stone, plunging into the waves, which boil into foam with the shock. Nor fails he to seize the scaly victim, with which he emerges into the air, and soon it is lodged whole in his capacious stomach. But the frigatebird has watched the proceeding, and instantly betakes himself to the pursuit. Sweeping down upon the unfortunate booby, he compels him to disgorge the fish which he has just swallowed, and which, long before it can reach the water, is seized and again devoured by the oppressor.

The frigate-bird neither swims nor dives; the seamen even believe that it sleeps on the wing: whether this be so or not, there is good evidence that the same individuals will remain in the air for several successive days; they are never known to alight on a vessel. Though the chase of the booby is so usual as to be considered one of its constant means of dependence, yet it also fishes for itself; precluded, however, from plunging into the sea, it can take only such as, like the flying-fish, leap into another element. With such success, however, does it attack these, that it has been seen to snap up three in succession in the course of a few minutes."

The frigates fly with great rapidity, and brave the tempests by shooting above their region and remaining balanced in the air until they can alight upon some rock to rest, for the length of their wings would prevent them from rising either from the waves or the ground. Their sight must also be remarkably piercing to enable them to discover, at such distances as quite escape our vision, the places where pass the flying-fishes, their chief relish. Instead of precipitating their head foremost, like birds which have the faculty of

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SEA-BIRDS USEFUL SCAVENGERS.

diving, the frigate holds its neck and feet in a horizontal direction, striking the upper column of air with its wings, then, raising and fixing them one against the other above its back, it darts on its prey with such address and velocity that it rarely escapes. The tropic birds, like the cormorant, perch on the highest trees, and make their nests in the holes of precipitous rocks or in the hollows of trees. The young, while in the nest gathered up in a ball and covered with a down of the most brilliant white, have a resemblance to powder-puffs. Of the long tail-feathers—sometimes twenty-four inches-the Otaheitans make plumes for their warriors. The Boobies have been met with in every sea and in every quarter of the globe. They fly with the neck extended, the tail spread out, and the wings almost motionless. Their cry participates of those of the goose and raven. They remove much less from land than the frigate-birds.

In concluding these necessarily brief remarks on marine birds, I am glad to mention that the beneficial effects of the "Sea-Birds Preservation Act"-a Parlimentary Act of the greatest importance, for giving the persecuted birds a chance of hatching and rearing their young in peace and safety-has already manifested most suc

cessful results. The wholesale destruction of these beautiful and useful birds called loudly for some repressive measures on their behalf. One essential benefit gained by the wholesome guardianship of the sea-birds during their breeding season is that they now come with every confidence and in great numbers into our harbours and bays, and do incalculable good as indefatigable removers of nuisances, removing garbage of all descriptions, which, if allowed to float on the water or fester between tide-ways, would occasion dangerous maladies.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE SENTINELS OF THE SEAS.

"The rocky ledge runs far into the sea,

And on its outer point, some miles away,
The lighthouse lifts its solid masonry,—

A pillar of fire by night, of cloud by day.
"Even at this distance I can see the tides,

Upheaving, break unheard along its base,
A speechless wrath that rises and subsides
In the white lip and tremour of the face.
"And as the evening darkens, lo! how bright
Through the deep twilight of the purple air
Beams forth the sudden radiance of its light,
With strange unearthly splendour in its glare!
"Not one alone; from each projecting cape

And perilous reef along the ocean's verge,
Starts into life a dim gigantic shape,

Holding its lantern o'er the restless surge.

*

"And the great ships sail outward and return,

Bending and bowing o'er the billowy swells,

And ever joyful as they see it burn,

They wave their silent welcomes and farewells."

LONGFELLOW.

HERE can be no object, my young friends, more suggestive of pleasant thoughts, of home, of peace, and security, than a lighthouse. Whether placed upon a headland overlooking a wide expanse of ocean, or on a rock lashed

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EARLIEST ALLUSIONS TO LIGHTHOUSES.

by the foaming billows, it is a welcome sight to the traveller returning to his native country after a long absence, and it is a grateful object to those who are leaving home for distant regions, who, after leaving port, can trace for many miles the friendly light, the last visible connection that unites their thoughts to those who are left behind.

The absence of the lights that stream over the heaving waters would indeed be a calamity; indicative, probably, of war's fatal struggles, when a nation dreading hostile invasion would seek to foil their enemies by extinguishing these lights, and thus leaving them to the perils of shoals and quicksands, of breakers and the rocks. Without these glimmering lights it would be impossible to guide a ship through the perilous ocean; commerce would languish, and all the civilizing influences encouraged by trade would be lost. The earliest allusion to lighthouses or "beacons" to guide the mariner on his sea-journey, date from a remote period. Homerwho is supposed to have lived before the year 776 preceding the birth of our Saviour-alluding to the shield of Achilles, beautifully describes the flash of a beacon-light in some solitary place, as seen by seamen leaving their friends, in verses which contain ample proof of the existence of such a provision for the mariner's safety in the poet's time.

From ancient historians we learn that navigation made its first efforts in the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Gulf; in these places the first operations of commerce by water were carried on. The voyages of the Egyptians and the Phoenicians (the most ancient seafaring people mentioned in history) were made in the Mediterranean. Their trade, however, was not confined to the countries bordering upon it; but by acquiring possession of ports in the Arabian Gulf, they extended the range of their commerce, and are represented as the first people of the West who opened a communication by sea with India. For a long period the art of navigation lay in a dormant state: the invention of the compass had not given confidence to the mariner. The Arabians and the Chinese, the early Greeks and Romans, steered cautiously along the coast, stretching out so far at sea as not to lose sight of land,