. Crusoe's Island; a bird-hunter's story . happi-ness. Crusoe says that he found a kind of wild Pidff-eons, who built not as wood Pidgeons, in a Tree ; butrather as house Pidgeons, in holes in the may have been the great blue pigeons, whichare now rare in the island ; but I am inclined to thinkthey were not pigeons at all, but birds altogether dif-ferent. For Crusoes knowledge of natural historywas extremely limited, and he hardly u knew a hawkfrom a hernshaw. Breeding in holes in the great cliffs, were the birdswhich, I think, he mistook for pigeons—the gracefulTropic Birds, trimm
. Crusoe's Island; a bird-hunter's story . happi-ness. Crusoe says that he found a kind of wild Pidff-eons, who built not as wood Pidgeons, in a Tree ; butrather as house Pidgeons, in holes in the may have been the great blue pigeons, whichare now rare in the island ; but I am inclined to thinkthey were not pigeons at all, but birds altogether dif-ferent. For Crusoes knowledge of natural historywas extremely limited, and he hardly u knew a hawkfrom a hernshaw. Breeding in holes in the great cliffs, were the birdswhich, I think, he mistook for pigeons—the gracefulTropic Birds, trimmest and handsomest of sea fowl. The generic name of the Tropic, Phaethon, isthat of the audacious young man, who (as narrated inthe Greek mythology) undertook to guide the chariot ofthe sun, and having nearly set the world on fire, washurled by Jupiter into the sea. The name is well bestowed upon this sun-lovingbird, but it is found nearer the sea than the is very conspicuous at sea, in the tropical waters, TO CRUSOES and may always be identified by the long feathers inits tail. These are two in number and are filiform, orcylindrical, having somewhat the appearance of straws, MY HAPPY FAMILY. 71 from which it is sometimes called the straw bird, asby the sailors it is denominated the bosen, from itsshrill cries, like a boatswains whistle. Another strange bird, never seen out of tropiclatitudes, is the great frigate bird, the Fregataaquila, its specific name probably derived from theLatin for an eagle. Though the frigate bird delightsin the neighborhood of high cliffs, where its eggsare deposited and the young are reared in the breed-ing season, it may nearly always be seen sailinghigh. It is more truly a sun lover, more an explorer ofthe upper atmosphere, than the eagle himself. Itsails on scarce-moving wings for hours at a time,circling higher and higher, until finally a mere speckin the sky, then lost to sight entirely. These man-o-war birds, as the sailo
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidcrusoesi, booksubjectbirds
