Note 139 — CANTO THE SECOND.[96]
Reading edition
{109}["About this time a beautiful white bird, web-footed, and not unlike a dove in size and plumage, hovered over the mast-head of the cutter, and, notwithstanding the pitching of the boat, frequently attempted to perch on it, and continued fluttering there till dark. Trifling as such an incident may appear, we all considered it a propitious omen."—"Loss of the Lady Hobart, 1803," Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea, 1812, iii. 389.]