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Where it is once securely established the land becomes desolate, as the tree inevitably perishes which the sea-hawk chooses for its nest; while freedom, on the contrary, flourishes like the tannen, 'on the loftiest and least sheltered rocks, and clothes with its refreshing verdure what, without it, would frown in naked and incurable sterility.
The albacore seemed equally tired of the connection, equally exhausted; and as it swam slowly about, no longer darting swiftly from point to point, as at the beginning of the strife, the spectators could now see that the foot of the sea-hawk, instead of being held between the jaws of the fish, as at first they had supposed it to be, appeared to be resting on the back of its head, as if the bird had perched there, and was balancing itself on one leg!
It seemed scarcely possible that they should venture to attack an English man-of-war; and yet, from the gestures of their crews, and the way they came on, such appeared to be their intention. Possibly they had heard the firing, and, taught to believe the Sea-Hawk the most powerful ship afloat, supposed that she had gained the victory.
A prize crew of twenty men was left on board the Sea-Hawk, with the assistant-surgeon to look after the wounded, the second lieutenant coming on board to take command of them. I was thankful to be ordered to return to the corvette, for I was heartily sick of the scene I had witnessed. Just as I was going over the side, I heard Paddy Doyle sing out, "Arrah! my dead man's come to life again!
The frigate-bird, a true sea-hawk, sea-eagle, it may be called, since its bold, noble qualities entitle it to the name, makes its excursions so far from the shore that it is not unfrequently seen in the very middle of the Atlantic. Now, this is the most curious circumstance in its history, and one that has hitherto perplexed ornithologists.
Let us make sure then, lest Jack's theory regarding the lumbers of the sea-hawk be not mythical in the mirror of our own incredulity. That the bird can take rest in the air is perfectly certain.
Remember that it is as absurd an argument to say that these sea-creatures with gross names were sought for gross purposes, as to say that the sea-comb is sought for the adornment of the hair, the fish named sea-hawk to catch birds, the fish named the little boar for the hunting of boars, or the sea-skull to raise the dead.
When a rope creaked the old fox saw me an' let drive with his hanger. Where I was I couldn't dodge quick, an' the blade took me here, acrost the face. Why he never knifed me, after, I don't know." The scarred man stopped with the same abruptness that had marked his beginning. His fierce, light eyes, like those of a sea-hawk, swept slowly around the audience and lit on Jeremy.
"Ye did weel for a beginner," says that wild young sea-hawk. "Nobody will be blaming ye for botching the work." And as we struggled up he hissed a fierce sea oath at me, when my clumsier boot dislodged an icicle that tinkled like breaking glass in the yard below us. "On, man, on," he whispered. "Ye'll need a' your start, for the gang will hunt ye doon like a mad dog."
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. It is probably a different species from the frigate-bird, or sea-hawk, of the Eastern tropical seas.
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