Frigatebird

“ The bird is able to fill each tiny quill with air, so that its body becomes like a balloon, and it rises high above the roofs of the houses; then, like the fish, when it wishes to sink, it can breathe out all the air again, and so constantly change its weight, and fly, now high, now low, faster than any train can rush or ship sail.
There is a wonderful bird which sailors have seen a thousand miles from land. It is called the Frigate-bird, and has never been known to rest on the sea; it lives upon sea-creatures, but makes its nest on shore. ”

“ The Frigate bird, when it sees any object on the surface of the water, descends from a great height, in an inclined plane, head foremost, with the swiftness of an arrow; and at the instant of seizing with its long beak and outstretched neck, the floating morsel, it turns upwards, with extraordinary dexterity, by the aid of its forked tail, and long, powerful wings. It never touches the water with its wings, or even with its feet ”

“ We therefore put the boat’s head round, and pulled along the shore homewards.
On our way back Mr Sedgwick expatiated on the powers and beauty of the frigate-bird. “See,” he observed, “these feathers are not of that coarse and downy texture peculiar to aquatic birds; indeed, its graceful form and all the internal arrangements seem especially adapted—I was almost going to say for eternal flight. See these wings, twelve feet from tip to tip. Observe this forked tail, these short legs, the thighs not more than an inch in length. Unless perched on some rocky pinnacle, it is unable to take flight. ”

“ The right ovary is likewise aborted in all birds, the left one yielding all the eggs. The swifts and frigate birds live almost their whole lives long on the wing, and the legs of these birds have grown so short and weak and rudimentary, as a result of their constant life in the air, that they can scarcely walk. The chimney swift is said never to alight anywhere except on the sooty inner walls of the chimney where its nest is. Its food consists of insects which it gathers in the air, and the few dead twigs used in making its nest are nipped from the tree while the bird continues its flight. ”

“ The Frigate Bird is of such a combative temperament, and has such an unbounded confidence in its strength, that it is not afraid to defy even man. It has been known to dash at a sailor, and to snatch at the fish which he held in his hand. ”

“ When the morning light gladdens the face of nature, and while the warblers are yet waiting in silence the first rays of the sun, whose appearance they will hail with songs of joy, the Frigate Bird, on extended pinions, sails from his roosting place. Slowly and gently, with retracted neck he glides, as if desirous of quietly trying the renovated strength of his wings. Toward the vast deep he moves, rising apace, and before any other bird views the bright orb emerging from the waters. Pure is the azure of the heavens, and rich the deep green of the smooth sea below ”

“ Thus, then, this being so well-armed, winged, superior to all others in power of flight and vision as in daring, leads but a trembling and precarious life. He would die of hunger had he not the industry to create for himself a purveyor, whom he cheats of his food. His ignoble resource, alas, is to attack a dull and timorous bird, the noddy, famous as a fisher. The frigate-bird, which is of no larger dimensions, pursues him, strikes him on the neck with his beak, and constrains him to yield up his prey. ”

“ Every once in a while they flip themselves right out of the water and turn a complete somersault. Sometimes they do this three times in succession. One of the biggest ones we struck with our bow and neatly turned it over.
The Frigate Birds are Unbelievably Tame.
When we landed on the little beach we saw many of these frigate birds on their nests, boobies, gulls, and the cutest little doves. They seemed so tame. They were always fighting for each other’s twigs in their nests and as soon as a bird left her nest another bird came and stole a twig and flew away with it. ”

“ The Frigate Bird spreads its wings to the extent of three yards; its power of flight is, therefore, very great. It inhabits the tropical seas of both the Old and New World, and navigators assure us that they have met with it two or three hundred leagues from any shore. When a hurricane arises they mount up far above the storm, and remain in these empyrean regions until it is again fine weather. In consequence of their immense expansion of wing, they can sustain themselves in the air for days together without taking or requiring rest. ”

“ The Frigate Bird, with audacious rapacity, when it observes the Gannet catch a fish, swoops down upon it and compels it to disgorge its prey. Their somewhat imperfect organisation explains this habit of non-resistance. The shortness of their legs and the excessive length of their wings prevent them 284 escaping from their enemies when on shore, nor have they sufficient power of flight to avoid them in the air. But when they are aloft they soar wonderfully, with their necks stretched out, the tail expanded, and the wings almost motionless. ”

“ To see a Frigate-bird plunge, however, is no uncommon occurrence, and the habit of forcing Terns, Boobies, and the like to disgorge their prey, which is caught before it reaches the waves, must not be forgotten. [85] If secured in an awkward position the captures are tossed up in the air, caught again and swallowed. The note, a harsh croak or cackle, is seldom heard. The nest of small sticks, which the birds tear off upon the wing, is generally in trees or bushes, though occasionally on the ground or on a bare rock ”

“ Scattered upon the ground lie the long bones, bleached in the wind, and the sable feathers, of several Frigate-birds, who met their death where they had been accustomed to live; the victims perhaps of disease, or perhaps of mutual encounters. High up on the loftiest and outmost limbs sit many Pelicans, some preening their plumage, others, with the long beak resting on the breast, enjoying a sluggish repose. Frigates and Boobies are associated with them, but of these we shall speak presently. ”

“ Sometimes a frigate bird—a great mysterious bird which is always alone—crossed, at a great height, the regions of the air, flying straight with its narrow wings and scissor-like tail, hastening as if it had a goal. Then the sailors pointed out to one another the strange traveller, following it with their eyes as long as it remained in sight, and its passage was recorded in the ship's log. ”

“ An interesting flyer that we have seen is the frigate bird, also called the man-of-war bird, which appears to me to be a good deal of a pirate, as it makes the most of its living by robbing others. When another bird has caught a fish the frigate bird attacks him, and takes away his prize, catching it in the air as it falls from the victim’s claws. These birds follow the steamer or fly in the air above it, and they seem to go along very easily, although the ship is running at full speed. ”

“ Even to the distance of fifteen hundred miles and more from the mouth of the Amazon, large flocks of the high-flying frigate-birds are descried hovering at an immense height above the stream, preparing to plunge down and seize their finny prey.
They measure seven feet from wing to wing, and appear almost to live in the air. The neck is partly bare, and very extensible; the bill long, and hooked at the end; the feet small, and webbed. The body of the male is entirely black, while the hen has the head and neck white. ”

“ This tyrant of the upper air observes, as it glides in steady, stately circles, the noisy unreflecting terns, and with arrow-like swiftness pursues those which have been successful. Dodge and twist and double as it may—and no hare upon land is half so quick or resourceful as the wily tern in the air—the frigate bird follows with the audacity and certainty of fate, until flustered and frightened the little fish is abandoned, to be snapped up by the air-ranger before it reaches the sea. ”

“ The interesting fact of the Frigate-bird (Fregata aquila) being domesticated by the natives and used as a carrier bird is, however, thoroughly dealt with. The Insecta and Arachnidæ have been studied by Mr. W.J. Rainbow, and the Crustacea and Echinodermata by Mr. T. Whitelegge, who has also dealt with the Alcyonaria, Sponges, Madreporaria, Hydrozoa, Scyphozoa, Actinozoa, and Vermes. Mammals, Reptiles, and Fishes have been detailed by Mr. Edgar R. Waite. "Excluding the birds, the indigenous terrestrial vertebrate fauna appears to be comprised in five species—a Rat and four Lizards." ”

“ The humming-bird flies as the Irishman played the fiddle, by main strength, the frigate bird relies on his skill in taking advantage of every varying current of air, and the skeleton of the one indicates great muscular power while that of the other shows its absence. No other bird has such proportionately great muscles as the humming-bird, the keel of the sternum or breast bone from which these muscles arise runs from one end of the body to the other while at the same time it projects downward like the keel of a modern racing yacht. ”

“ They might well be alarmed for the safety of their nests—or rather of their eggs, which they lay upon the bare ground, without any attempt at a nest—for they strewed the whole point so thickly that it was no easy matter to pick one’s way without treading upon them at every alternate step. In nearly every tree were to be seen the rude nests of the frigate-bird, built of a few coarse sticks ”

“ The donkey-frigate was a late invention to serve patronage, and sprigs of certain houses were educated in them. They carried 28 guns, carronades, and were about 600 tons burden, commanded by captains who sometimes found a commander in a sloop which could blow him out of water.—Frigate is also the familiar name of the membranous zoophyte, Physalia pelagica, or Portuguese man-of-war.
FRIGATE-BIRD. Tachypetes aquila, a sea-bird generally seen in the tropics. It seems to live on the wing, is partially web-footed, and only visits the land at breeding time. ”

“ Strictly speaking, the frigate-bird does not fish, like other predatory birds of the ocean. As it cannot either dive or swim, of course it cannot take fish out of the water. How, then, does it exist? Where finds it the food necessary to sustain existence? In a word, it captures its prey in the air; and this commonly consists in the various species of flying-fish, and also the loligo, or “flying squids.” ”

“ I have acquired these valuable bits of ornithological lore: “The frigate-bird is capable of getting up a speed of ninety-six miles an hour with hardly a movement of its wings. The greater part of its life is spent in the air.” “The swallow has a larger mouth in proportion to its size than any other bird.” ”

“ No other bird of its size seems so absolutely at home in the air. Frigate-birds—as they are also called—hardly ever light on the water, yet they are sometimes seen in mid-ocean. But they like to live in companies, near some coast. ”

“ There is nothing living in sight but the frigate birds, black shapes high over the water with long angular pinions outspread and motionless, soaring and circling in the slow leisure of timeless spirits. There is nothing else at sea except the purple shadows of clouds and the stippling of beryl where the coral is only just submerged. ”

“ Then the speed of their flight is indeed seen to advantage, as well as the marvellous suddenness with which they can change their rapid course as their victim tries to escape from their attack. Before gales frigate-birds are said often to fly low, and their appearance near or over land, except at their breeding-time, is supposed to portend a hurricane. ”

“ As just intimated the frigate bird is exactly the reverse of his tiny relative; the body is a mere appendage to a pair of wings, while the breast muscles are so small as to show at a glance that of all flying creatures the frigate bird is the one which has most successfully solved the problem of the conservation of energy and can obtain the greatest amount of power with the least expenditure of muscle. ”

“ In "The Frigate Bird" the rapscallions who seize a schooner and, without any knowledge of navigation, sail the high seas, are full-blooded adventurers; but there is all the difference in the world between the character of the educated Carlyon and that of the simple-minded and ignorant Finn. This yarn occupies nearly half of the book, and the other stories should give food for thought to those who allege that no Englishman can write a short story. Apart from one charming little tale of a haunted French château Mr. STACPOOLE allows us to bask here in the eternal summer of Pacific skies. ”

“ Sometimes the large bird called the frigate pelican soars majestically over the vessel, and the tropic bird comes near enough to let you have a fair view of the long feathers in his tail. On the line, when it is calm, sharks of a tremendous size make their appearance. They are descried from the ship by means of the dorsal fin, which is above the water.
On entering the Bay of Pernambuco, the frigate pelican is seen watching the shoals of fish from a prodigious height. It seldom descends without a successful attack on its numerous prey below. ”

“ When these are forced out of their own proper element to seek safety in the air, the frigate-bird, ready to pounce down from aloft, clutches them before they can get back into the equally unsafe element out of which they have sprung. ”

“ It is of elegant form, smaller than the Merganser, being only fifteen inches in length. The plumage of the head is full, soft, and blended; the upper part of the head and nape elongated, forming a gradually narrowing crest; the wings short, rather narrow, slightly convex, and pointed—when closed reaching to within an inch and a half from the end of the tail. The male bird, at maturity, has a great spot of greenish black on each side of the bill, and a longitudinal one on the occiput. The tufted crest, neck, scapulars, small coverts of the wing, and all the lower parts are pure white ”