A tempest on the surges with their wings,
Till flashing clouds of foam and spray conceal'd them.
Nimbly they seized and secreted their prey,
Alive and wriggling, in th' elastic net
Which Nature hung beneath their grasping beaks;
Till, swoll'n with captures, th' unwieldy burthen
Clogg'd their slow flight, as heavily to land
These mighty hunters of the deep return'd.
There on the cragged cliffs they perched at ease,
Gorging their hapless victims one by one;