?rf<^;<:.S ;■••;■■ ..•;•' V • -:«k,.:;r ;<;v-. *k-i . v-r-A- J^k)^^ ^* - „ ♦ .' vp. ■ ^*?^i' .^^'^--V^ =^■ill^Jt ®Ije §, p, ^ai pbrarg SPECIAL COLLfCTlONS •QH45 fcar-TftiniiMrrf 3 1460 QH45 IB82_. v,3 Buffon Natural history of . -O • ^\- DA SOJao; This book must not be taken from the Library building. 30iaa'5§ NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS, FISH, INSECTS, AND REPTILES. EMBELLISHED WITH UPWARDS OF TWO HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS. IN SIX VOLUMES. VOL. III. PRINTED FOR THE PROPRIETOR, AXD SOLD BT H. D. STMONDS, PATERNOSTER-ROW. J 808. Kniglit and Compton, Printers, Cloth Fair. CONTENTS OF THE THIRD VOLUME. Pags Of small Birds of the Crane kind 1 The Curlezi) - - J7 Stone Curlew - - 18 Barker - - W Woodcock - - 21 Godtcit - - 23 Greenshank - - 24 Redshank - ibid Snipe - - 25 Sand-piper - - <2C) K"! - - 27 Knot - - 28 Purro, or Stint - - ibid Turnstone - - 29 Dunlin _ ibid Lapwing - ^ibid Green. Plover - - 50 Grey Plover - -. 32 Ringed Plover - ' ibid \ r^ r^ (\ Pazt The Long-legged Plover - - 32 Dotterel - - -33 Frigate, or Man of War Bird ibid Sea Lark - - - 35 Water Rail, or Ouzle - - 37 Of the Water Hen and its Affinities 3{) The Olive, Sea-pie, or Oyster Catcher A3 J^ ha la rope - - - 44 Grebe - - - - 45 Of the Web-footed Fowl in general - 47 'J he Pelican - - - 53 Albatross - - -^ 63 Cormorant - - . - Qg Shag - - - - 76 The Gannet or Soland Goose - 77 Of Gulls and their Affinities - S3 The Great Grey Gull - - yS Brozcn Gull - - - 100 Brown-headed Gull - ibid Black and White Gull - - 10 1 White Gull ^ - - - - 102 Skua Gull - - ibid Wage I Gull - ^ . 103 Herring Gull - - \\^\(\ Tarrock and Kiltiit'ake Gulls - \(H Pewit Gull, or Black Cap ibid Guat Gull - - ^ 103 Petrels ■- - - ibid Fulmar - . . ibid [ ^ 3 Page The Shearwater - - - 106 Stormy Petrel - • - ibid Great Tern, or Sea^SwaUow - 108 Lesser Tern - - ibid Black Tern - . - ibid Striated Tern - - - 109 Penguin and its Affinities - ] 10 Magellanic Penguin - 113 Of the jhik, Puffin, and their Affinities 1 19 The great Northern Diver - - 120 Speckled Diver - - 121 Sea Diver - - - 122 Crested Diver - - - 123 Great Juk _ - _ ibid Razor Bill - - - 124 Guillemot - - - 125 Lesser Guillemot - - ibid Puffin - - - - 126 Gooseandcr - - - 135 Dun Diver - - - ibid Med Breasted Merganser - ibid Hoodtd Merganser - - 136 Smexc - - - . ibid Of the Goose or Duck kind - - 137 Siian ' - - - 143 Cygnus, or Wild Swan - - J 52 Tame, or Mute Swan - - 154 Ci/gnoidcs - - ' ]o5 [ vl ] Page The Grey Lag - 1.50 Tame Goose - ibid Bean Goose - 168 Barnacle - ibid Race-horsey or Logger-head Goost ! 159 Snow Goose - 160 Htd-breasted Goose - 161 liuddy Goose - ibid Canadensis - 162 Duck and its varieties - \65 Wild Duck - 168 Bochas - 179 Eider Duck - 180 Macula, or Scaup Duck - 182 Sheldrake - ibid Spt'ctabilis - 183 Nigra, or Scoter - ibid Ilook-billcd Drake - 184 Mallard - 185 Tufted, or black-crested Duck - 186 Upright Duck - 187 Muscovy Duck - •* - 188 Madagascar Duck - 189 Shoveller - 190 Golden Fye - 192 Pintail - 193 Widgeon - 19^ Great-headed Widgeon - 193 Teal - J9j VI 1 Pag, The French Teal ■ - 197 Chinese Teal " 198 King-faher - 199 Smyrna King-jisher - 206 Large Bengal King-Jisher - 207 Small Bengal King-Jisher - 208 Avosetta - 209 Crown Bird - 213 Mexican Crown Bird - 214 Carasow - 215 Red Bird - 217 , . Gaulding - 218 Blus Gauldincr - 219 Otis, or Tarda - 221 Brasilian Night Bird - 225 Blue and Solitary Thrushes - 224 Bengal Quail - .225 . Hoopoe - 227 Red-legged Horseman - 229 East-Indian Martin - 230 Fokkoe - 231 Bee-Eater - 232 Bengal Bee- Eater - 234 Wry-neck - 255 Kokoi - _ - - 237 Fu It urine Eagle, and ethers of the Eagle kind - 238 OssiJ'rage - 240 Tunis or Barbary Falcon - -. ibid [ viii ] Page The Boaihill A - 242 Umbre •» - 243 Jacana - - ibid Sheathbill - - 245 Crake - - ibid Hornbill - - 246 Rhinoceros Hornbill - - 247 Helmet Hornbill - - ibid Pied Hornbill - . - ibid Chatterers - - 248 Carunculated Chatterer - - ibid Grackle - - - 249 Boat-tailed Grackle - - 250 Flycatchers - "» 251 Fantailed Flycatcher m - ibid Tropic Bird - - 252 Darter ^' - 253 FISH. The Physiology and Structure of Fish 255 Cetaceous Fish - - 303 The Whale - 307 Fin Fish - - 316 Musculus - - 317 Nar Whale - - ibid NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS, FISH, REPTILES, &c. ^ - OF SMALL BIRDS OF THE CRANE KIND. THE variety of birds which come under this description are exceedingly nume- rous both in this and almost every other climate : Brisson has enumerated more than one hundred, and some authors have stated them to amount to nearly three ; but out of that number many are found to differ only in the length of their body, the colour of some particular feathers, or some such slight distinction. In their manners and habits, however, they are very similar, so much so, indeed, that we might almost assert that the characteristics of one would nearlv ex- hibit the Natural History of the whole ; and therefore it is that v/e shall follow the example of a modern author, and speak of their nature VOL. III. B and fj. C. Stat^' College 2 NATURAL lIlSTOIiY and habits in general^ to avoid that tedious repeti- tion which would inevitably occur, by treating of them as they related to each bird individually^ at least of such as are known ; for notwithstand- ing the laborious researches of the most eminent naturalists, there yet remains a multiplicity of the feathered race, natives of both the old and new continents, of which no particulars have been acquired beyond their figure, size, and plumage. Many cabinets have been collected by the curious, and who to each bird have been able to apply a name by the assistance of the nomen- clators ; but in doing this it has not unfrequently happened that two very distinct birds, from a similarity of plumage, have gone under one com- mon appellation in two different collections; and this kind of error must certainly continue to oc- cur among those with whom we are so little acquainted ; nor would it be of much conse- quence, had not some of the owners com- menced authors, and thus erroneously handed them down, to posterity, to the no^ small per- plexity of those Vv'ho studiously investigate the varieties of nature. Added to this is the practice of the exhibitors of birds and beasts, who, from ignorance, or from motives of interest, give an animal that name which they think OF BIRDS, 1-isHj Sec. 3 think most likely to answer their purpose; a fact which frequently occurred to BufFon, and who gives it as his opinion that many species have been thus multiplied by mere varieties. Such being the case, the entering into a tedious description of a long list, of which nothing but their names and colours are known, could be but little satisfactory ; for in this tribe we should find them almost as numerous as in the sparrow, and many of their pretended distinctions are only different shades in their plumage. The most particular, however, we shall point out, after having given, in the words of a cele» brated author, a general view of their habits and manners. '^ All the birds in this class possess many '^ marks in common; though some have pecu- *' liarities that deserve regard. They are aJl *^ bare of feathers above tJie knee, or above ^^ the heel, as some naturalists chuse to express ^^ it. In fact, that part which I call the knee, '^ if compared with the legs of mankind, is ^^ analogous to the heel : but, as it is com- *^ monly conceived otherwise, I have conform- *^ ed to the general apprehension. I say, thcre- '^ fore, that all these birds are bare of feathers B 2 " above 4 NATURAL HISTOIiY '^ above the knee ; and in some they are want- ^'•' ing half way up the thigh. The nudity in '^ that part is partly natural, and partly pro- ^^ duced by all birds of this kind habitually ^^ wading in water. The older the bird, the ^' barer are its thighs; yet even the young '^ ones have not the same downy coverinof ^' reaching so low as the birds of any other '^ class. Such a coverins: there would rather o '^ be prejudicial, as being continually liable to ^^ get wet in the water. ^^ As these birds are usually employed rather ^^ in running than in flying, and as their food ^^ lies entirely upon the ground, and not on ^^ trees, or in the air, so they run with great ^' swiftness for their size, and the length of their ^^ legs assist their velocity. But as, in seeking '^ their food, they are often obliged to change */ their station; ^ also are they equally sv/ift ^^ of wing, and traverse immense tracts of <^ country without much fatigue. '^ It has been thought by some, that a part '^ of this class lived upon an oily slime, found '' in the bottoms of ditches and of weedy pools; '^ they were thence termed, by Willoughby, ^^ Mud-suckers ; but later discoveries have ^^ shewn that, in these places, they hunt for the '^ caterpillars. OF BIRDS, FI3II, &C. 5 ff caterpillars, worms, and insects. From *f hence, therefore, we may generally assert, «f that all birds of this class live upon animals " of one kind or another. The long billed " birds suck up worms and insects from the " bottom ; and those furnished with shorter " bills, pick up such insects as lie nearer the *^ surface of the meadov/, or among the sandft *' on the sea-shore. " Thus the curlew, the wood-cock, and the " snipe, are ever seen in plashy brakes, and *^ under covered hedges, assiduously employed ^^ in seeking out insects in their worm state, ^^ and it should seem, from their plumpness, " that they find a plentiful supply. Nature, " indeed, has furnished them with very con- '^ venient instruments for procuring this kind " of food. Their bills are made sufficiently ^' long for searching ; but still mare, they are '^ endowed with an exquisite sensibility at the " point, for feeling their provisions. They are ^' furnished with no less th?.ii three pair of ^^ nerves, equal almost to the optic nerves in *^ thickness ; which pass from the roof of the *^ mouth, and run along the upper chap to the ^' point. ^^ Nor are those with shorter bills, and desti- " tute NATUBAL HISTOllT tute of such convenient instruments, without a proper provision made for procuring their subsistence. The lapvving, the sand-piper, and the red-shank, run with surprising rapi- dity along the surface of the marsh or the sea- shore, quarter their ground with great dexte- rity, and leave nothing of the insect kind that happens to lie on the surface. These, how- ever, are neither so fat nor so delicate as the former : as they are obliged to toil more for a subsistence, they are easily satisfied with whatever offers ; and their flesh often con- tracts a relish from what has been their latest OP their principal food. ^' Most of the birds formerly described, have stated seasons for feeding and rest : the eagle kind prowl by day, and at evening repose; and the owl kind by night, keeping unseen in the day-time. But these birds, of the crane kind, seem at all hours employed ; they are seldom at rest by day; and during the whole night season, every meadow and marsh resounds with their different calls, to court- ship or to food. This seems to be the time when they least fear interruption from man ; and at this season they appear more assidu- *' ouslv OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. " ously employed;, both in providing for their '^ present support, and continuing that of poste- *^ rity. But unfortunately for them, this is also ^^ the season when the insidious fowler steals in ^' upon their occupations, and fills the whole ^^ meadow with terror and destruction. ^' As all of this kind live entirely in waters, *^ or at least among watery places, they seem pro- *^ vided by nature with a warmth of constitu- *^ tion to fit them for that cold element. They *' reside, by choice, in the coldest climates; *^ and as other birds migrate here in our sum- *' mer, their migrations hither are mostly in the '' winter. Even those that reside among us the *^ whole season, retire in summer to the tops *^ of our bleakest mountains; where they *^ breed and bring down their young, when '^ the cold v/eather sets in. '^ Most of them, however, migrate and re- *^ tire to the polar regions; as these that remain *■' behind in 'the mountains, and keep with U3 *^ during summer, bear no proportion to the " quantily which in winter haunt our marshes *^ and low grounds. The snipe sometimes builds *^ here; and the nest of the curlew is sometime* " found in the plashes of our hills : but the ^^ number of these is very small; and it is most '^ probable NATURAL HISTORY ^^ probable that they are only some stragglers^ ^^ who, not having strength or courage suffi- ^' cient for the general voyage, take up from *^ necessity their habitation here. " In general, during summer, this whole class '^ either chuse the coldest countries to retire to, *^ or the coldest and the moistest part of ours to *^ breed in. The curlew, the woodcock, the snipe, the godwit, the grey plover, the green and the long-legged plover, the knot and the turn stone, are rather the guests than the na- ^^ tives of this island. Thev visit us in the be- ^^ ginning of winter, and forsake ' us in the *^ spring. They then retire to the mountains " of Sweden, Poland, Prussia, and Lapland, to ''^ breed. Our country, during the summer ^^ season, becomes uninhabitable to them. The *^ ground parched up by the heat; the springs /^ dried away ; and the vermicular insects al- ^' ready upon the wing ; they have no means of ^^ subsisting. Their weak and delicately pointed '' bills are unlit to dig into a resisting soil ; and ^' their prey is departed, though they were able ^' to reach its retreats." Thus, that season *^ when Nature is said to teem with life, and to " put on her gayest liveries, is to them an in- " terval of sterility and famine. The coldest " mountains OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. « mountains of the north are then a preferable *^ habitation ; the marshes there ^are never to- ^' tally dried up ; and the insects are in such ^^ abundance, that, both above ground and un- ^^ dernealh, the country swarms with them. In ^^ such retreats, therefore, these birds would *^ continue always, but that the frosts, w^hen ^^ they set in, have the same effect upon the *' face of the landscape, as the heats of summer. *' Every brook is stiffened into ice; all the earth ^^ is congealed into one solid mass; and the birds '^ are obliged to forsake a region where the\^ '* can no longer find subsistence. *'^ Such are our visitants. With re2:ard to *^ those which keep with us continually, and ^' breed here, they are neither so delicate in *^ their food, nor perhaps so warm in their con- '^ stitutions* The lapwing, the ruff, the red- ^^ shank, the sandpiper, the sea-pie, the Nor- ^^ folk plover, and the sea-lark, breed in this *^ country, and, for the most part> reside here. *^ In summer they frequent such marshes as are '' not dried up in any part of the year ; the ^^ Essex hundreds, and the fens of Lincolnshire. *' There in solitudes, formed by surrounding ^^ marshes, they breed and bring up their young. ^' In winter they come from their retreats, ren- voL. HI. C '^ dered JO NATURAL HISTORV dered uninJiabitable by the flooding of the waters; and seek their food about our ditches and marshy meadow-grounds. Yet even of this clasSj all arc wanderers upon some occa- sions ; and take wing to the northern cli- mates^ to breed and find subsistence. This happens when our summers are peculiarly dry; and when the fenny countries are not sufficiently watered to defend their retreats. *^ But though this be the usual course of Na- ture, with respect to these birds, they often break through the general habits of their kind ; and as the lapwing, the ruff, and the sandpiper, are sometimes seen to alter their manners, and to migrate from hence, instead of continuing to breed here; so we often find the wood-cock, the snipe, and the curlew, reside with us during the whole season, and breed their young in different parts of the country* In Casewood, about two miles from Tunbridge, as Mr. Pennant assures us, some wood- cocks are seen to breed annually. The young have been shot there in the be- ginning of August; and v,erc as healthy and vigorous as they are with us in winter, though not so well tasted. On the Alps, and other high mountains, says Willoughby, the wood- " cock OF BIRDS, FISH, ScC. 1 1 cock continues all summer. I myself have flushed them on the top of Mount Jura, in June and July. The eggs are long, of a pale red colour, and stained with deeper spots and clouds. The nests of the curlew and the snipe are frequently found ; and some of these perhaps never entirely leave this island. " Thus it appears that the same habits arc in some measure common to all; but in nestlingf, and bringing up their young, one method takes place universally. As they all run and feed upon the ground, so they are all found to nestle there. The number of eggs gene- rally to be seen in every nest is from two to four; never under, and very seldom exceed- ing. The nest is made without any art; but the eggs are either laid in some little depres- sion of the earth, or on a few bents and long grass, that scarcely preserves them from the moisture below. Yet such is the heat of the body of these birds, that the time of their in- cubation is shorter than with any other of the same size. The magpie, for instance, takes twenty-one days to hatch its young, but the lapwing takes but fourteen. Whether the animal oil, with which these birds abound, C2 S( gives iC NATURAL HISTORY ^' gives them this superior warmth, I cannot '^ tell, but there is no doubt of their quick in- " cubation. **" In their sea.sons of courtship, they pair as *^ other birds; but not without violent contests '^ between the males, for the choice of the fe- " male. The lapwing and the plover are often *^ seen to fight among tl^emselves; but there is '^ one little bird of this tribe, called the rttff^, " that has got the epithet of thejig/iter, merely " from its great perseverance and animosity on ^^ these occasions. In the beginning of spring, " when these birds arrive among our marshes, " they are observed to engage with desperate '^ fury against each other; it is then that the ^' fowlers, seeing them intent on mutual de- '' struction, spread their nets over them, and '^ take them in great numbers. Yet even in '^ captivity their animosity still continues : the ^^ people that fat them up for sale are obliged '^ to shut them up in close dark rooms ; for '^ if they let ever so little light in among them, ^' the turbulent prisoners instantly fall to fight- " ing with each other, and never cease till one " has killed its antagonist, especially, savs Wil- " loughby, if any body stands by. A similar \'. animosity, though in a less degree, prompts ^^all OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. IJ "'^ all this tribe ; but when they have paired, ^^ and begun to lay, their contentions are then '' over. ^^ The place these birds chiefly chuse to breed '^ in, is in some island surrounded with sedgy ^' moors, where men seldom resort; and in such ^^situations'! have often seen the ground so '^ strewed with eggs and nests, that one could '^ scarce take a step, without treading upon some *' of them. As soon as a stranger intrudes upon ^' these retreats, the whole colony is up, end an ^' hundred different screams are heard from ^' every quarter. The arts of the lapwing to ^^ allure men or dogs from her nest are per- *^ fectly amusing. When she perceives the *' enemy approaching, she never waits till they *^ arrive at her nest, but boldlv runs to meet ^^ them : When she has come as near them as '^ she dares to venture, she then rises with a " loud screamino' before them, seemino; as if *^ she were just flushed from hatching ; while " she is then probably a hundred yards from " the nest. Thus she flies, wdth great cla- " mour and anxiety, whining and screaming ^^ round the invaders, striking at them with her ^^ wings, and fluttering as if she were wounded. ^' To add to the deceit, she appears still more '^ clamorous. 14 NATURAL HISTORY *' clamorous, as more remote from the nest. " If she sees them very near, she then seems '' to be quite unconcerned, and her cries cease, ^^ while her terrors are really augmenting. If '^ there be dogs, she flies heavily at a little dis- '' tance before them, as if maimed ; still voci- ^^ ferpus and still bold, but never offering to *^ move towards the quarter where her treasure is deposited. The dog pursues, in hopes every moment of seizing the parent, and by this means actually loses the young ; for the " cunning bird, when she has thus drawn him *^ off to a proper distance, then puts forth her ^^ powers, and leaves her astonished pursuer to gaze at the rapidity of her flight. The eggs '^ of all these birds are highly valued by the lux- urious ; they are boiled hard, and thus served up, without any further preparation. As the young of this class are soon hatched, so, when excluded, they quickly arrive at ma- turity. They run about after the mother as '^ soon as they leave the egg; and being covered '^ with a thick down, want very little of that '^ clutching which all birds of the poultry kind '' that follow the mother indispensably require. '^ They come to their adult state long before '' winter ; and then flock together, till the '' '' breeding a ee OF BIRDS, FISH, sfcc. 15 * breeding season returns^ which for a while ^ dissolves their society. ^^ As the flesh of almost all these birds is ' in high estimation, so many methods have ^ been contrived for taking them. That used ' in taking the rnfF seems to be the most ad- ' vantageous; and it may not be amiis to de- ' scribe it. The Ruff, which is the name of ^ the male, the Reeve that of the female, i$ ^ taken in nets about forty yards long, and ' seven or eight feet high. These birds are ' chiefly found in Lincolnshire and the Isle ^ of Ely, where they come about the latter * end of April, and disappear about Michael- ' mas. The male of this bird, which is ^ known from all others of the kind by the ^ great length of the feathers round his neck, ^ is yet so various in his plumage, that, it ^ is said, no two rufts were ever seen totally ' of the same colour. The nets in which ' these are taken, are supported by flicks, ^ at an angle of near forty- five degrees, and ' placed either on dry ground, or in very ' shallovv' water, not remote from reeds : ^ amono; these the fowler conceals himself, till ^ the birds, enticed by a stale or stuffed bird, ^ come under the nets : he then, by pulling '' a string, IG NATURAL HISTORY **" a string, lets them fall, and they are taken ; '' as are god\vits_, knots, and grey plovers, also '' in the same manner. When these birds are ^^ brought from under the net, they are not ^^ killed immediately, but fattened for the table, ^^ with bread and milk, henip-seed, and some- *^ times boiled wheat; but if expedition be *^ wanted, sugar is added, which will make them *^ a lump of fat in a fortnight's time.'' Such are the general remarks which apply to nearly the whole extenfive tribe of birds that we have now under confideration ; but though approaching so nearly to each other, in their habits and manners, many of the princi- pal ones are nevertheless very different ; to these, however, are attached a number of affi- nities and varieties which, by that slow and al- most imperceptible gradation v/hich is miiver- versally to be discovered in animated nature, become so nearly allied, as to defy the most acute observer to point out w^here the distinctions begin. We shall therefore proceed to a de- scription of the heads of each family,, as from thence may be drawn a perfect idea of the whole race. OF BIRDS, risH, Sec. 17 THE CURLEW. LATHAM enumerates eleven species of this bird, differing very much in size, the longest measuring about twenty-five inches, and some- times wei2:hin2: thirty-six ounces. ' These birds fly in large flocks, and are well known in most parts upon the sea-coasts, where, and in the marshes, they frequent in the winter, feeding on worms, frogs, and all kinds of marine in- sects. In April, or the beginning of May, they retire into the mountainous and unfrequented parts of the sea-shore, where they breed, and do not return again till the approach of winter. There have been som.e who have praised the flesh of this bird, but in general it is strong, rank, and fishy. It has a long black bill, much curved or arched. The middle parts of the fea- thers on the head, neck, and back, are black ; the borders or out-sides ash-coloured, with an VOL. m. E> intermixture 18 NATURAL HISTORY intermixture of red ; and those between thi \^'ing3 .ind back are of a most beautiful glossy blue, and shine like silk. The rump and belly are white. The feet are divided, but joined by a little membrane at the root. The tongue is very short, considering the length of the bill, and bears some resemblance to an arrow. The female * is somewhat larger than the male, which is commonly called the Jack Cur- lew, and the spots with which her body is co- vered almost all over, incline more towards a red colour. The Slone Curlew differs ver)'' much from the former. It is a pretty large bird, being from the extension of the point of each wing a full yard, and has a straight sharp pointed bill, near- ly two inches long, black towards the nostrils, the other parts yellow; the eyes and the edges of their lids are yellow ; there is a bare place under each eye, that appears of a sort of yel- lowish green ; the breast, thighs, and under the chin, are of a yellowish white, the back, head, and neck, are in the middle parts black, with their ■ borders of a sort of reddish-ash colour, * There is but lltde (llfkrf nee between the male and female, only that the latter is sornewljat smiiller. with or itiuDs, risn, &c. 19 with some transverse spots of white upon the quill feathers, and the outward surface black ; some of the other wing feathers are tipt with white^ so that they appcarof a fine mixture of black and white, prettily mottled. The tail is about six inches long:, the colours vaj-icoated like those of the body and wincrs. The leo^ arc long, and of a yellowish colour, with small black claws; it has only three fore toes, which are joined together by a little membrane ; but has not any back toe at all. They are found in Norfolk, and several other counties in England, and have a cry that very . much resembles that of the green plover; they breed very late in the year, insomuch that the young ones have been found in the latter end of October, scarce able to fly; they run very swiftly, and will often stop, and stand without any motion of any part of their bodies. The Barker may not be improperly placed here, as it partakes in a great measure of the characteristics of the curlew family, if it do not in reality belongs to it. This bird measures from the point of the bill to the end of the tail, near two feet, and from the point of each wing when extended upwards of three. The head and part of the neck is of a cinereous, or brown colour, P 'Z interspersed. to NATUKAL HISTOKY Interspersed with small black spots; the back, and both the covert and scapular feathers of the wings, of a reddish brown, with white edges and tips : the quill feathers black, with their outward edges white. The under part of the body is of a dusky white tinctured with yellow. The tail is composed of dusky brown feathers, striped regularly with white on both the webs. The legs and feet are brown, tinctured with a dusky yellow, and greenish gloss. They generally feed on the salt marshes, not far from the sea, and are so timorous that they will very rarely admit a man to come near them, usually seeking their food in the night as other nocturnal birds do. They are said to make a noise like the barking of a dog, whence they are supposed to take the n^ime of Barker, though, according to Ray, this appears to be the bird described by Belon by the name of Berge, and that which the French call Petit Corlicuy which they esteem a very great delicacy. OF BIRDS, PISH, Sic. THE WOODCOCK. THIS, commonly termed the Snipe genus, is reckoned to include thirty species, of which the woodcock is considered as the head. This bird is not quite so large as the partridge, being from the point of each wing when extended about two feet, and weighing about eleven and sometimes twelve ounces; the bill is straight, and about three inches long, the upper part falling a little over the under at the tip end; the back, and all the under parts of the body par- take of a great variety of colours; the back part of the head inclines to black, with little cross bars that appear like a sort of shell work ; and between the eye and the bill, a black line on each side; nearer to the bill, it is more reddish, the whole beautifully variegated with red, black, grey, and ash-colour, which viewed together makes a very delightful appearance ; the breast and belly arc more grey, with a va- riety t'2 NATURAL HISTORY ricty of transverse pale and brown lines. The sides of the wings are crossed with various red bars, like those on the head, and a few pale or whiter feathers, interspersed upon each; the under parts of the wings are a mixture of grey and brown, with a variety of crossed or waved lines. The tail is about three inches long, the upper part of the tips cinereous or brown/ the under white, which when it raises its tail,, as it frequently does while feeding, is often disco- vered by those feathers. The legs and feet are of a dusky pale colour; and the claws, which are very small, black. They frequent woods, and woody places, where there is rivulets and springs ; and are very often found on the sides of banks, near watery ditches, and in small brambles and co- verts: here they feed amongst slime and earth, whence Mr. Willoughby says they draw small shell fish, worms, and other insects : but Mr. Durham more justly observes, that they feed chiefly on the fatty unctuous humour that they suck out of the earth, for which purpose he says they have remarkable nerves reaching to the end of their bills. They are birds of passage that come into England in the autumn, and leave us in the spring. OF BIRDS, FISH, hc. 23 spring, but are said to pair before they go. Notwithstanding the various conjectures of au- thors, it is not certainly known from what parts of the world they come, or whither they go; they are generally observed to come and go in foggy weather, and some of them that by accident have been left here during the summer, have been known to breed here, and are said to lay long pale red eggs, deeply stained with spots and clouds. The Godwit is about sixteen inches in length, and weighs from ten to twelve ounces; its bill is nearly as long as that of the woodcock, of a paleish red towards the base, and black at the point, the upper mandible something longer than the lower, the tongue sharp, and the ears open and large. The feathers upon the head are of a light brown or reddish colour, with their middle parts black ; but about the eyes of a more pale or yellowish tincture : the neck and breast are pretty much of the same colour with the head, only interspersed with transversal black hnes, edged with a pale yellow. The large wing feathers arc black, the shafts white, with a broad bar of white running along liie middle of the three lirsl feathers ; the rest of 24 .NATURAL HISTORY of the row, and those also of the next have reddish ash-coloured edges and tips ; the lesser covert feathers are of the same colour as the body. The tail feathers are alternately crossed with black and white lines. The legs of a dusky greenish colour, and the claws black. They feed by the sea- side upon sandy shores ; where they are frequently seen walking up and down like the gull. The throat and neck of the hen are grey, and the rump white, speckled or powd'^red with blackish spots. They are in some places called the Stone Plover. The Green- shank is not so common as the god wit ; it is about fourteen jjpches in length ; the bill two inches and a half long. The plu- mage oil the upper parts is a brown ash-colour; on the lower parts white : and it has a broad white stroke extending from the bill to the eye: the legs are green, whence it takes its name. It has the same manners and character as the godwit, and has also a white line over the eye : but it does not weigh more than lialf as much. The Red-shank weighs about fivo, ounces and a half, and is twelve inches long. The bill is two inches, red at the base, and black towards the point. The head, neck, and sca- pulars, are dusky ash-colour, obscurely spotted with nOTERTT UBRART fi. C. State College Of BltlDS^ PiStt, &C. 25 \vith black: the back is white, spotted with black ; the breast is white, streaked with dusky lines. When its nest is in danger, it makes a noise somewhat siniilar to that of the lapwing. • The Snipe is from the point of the bill to the end of the tail about twelve inches, and from 'the point of each wing when extended about fifteen or sixteen ; the head is divided by a pale and red line, which runs longways, parallel to which on each side is a black line, and over the eves there runs another line pretty much of the sam-e colour as that oil the middle of the head ; it has a white place under the bill. The fea- thers that spring from the shoulders are so long that they reach almost as far as the end of the tail, the outward half from the shaft being of a pale red. The colours thus exceeding each other make two lines down the back, the co- vert Feathers of which are dusky vv^ith white transverse lines, and white tips on some of the large wing feathers, the lesser feathers being of a mixed colour of red, black arid grey, beauti- fully variegated with white and brown lines ; the tail feathers are more red, with black lines running across them. The bill is black at the tip, and nearly three inches long ; the tongue is sharp; the eyes of » hazel colour. The legs ▼OL. nu E are «i5 NATURAL HtSTOllY . are of a pale greenish colour, the toes pretty- long, and the talons black. The flesh is exceedingly good, sweet and tender ; it feeds on worms and other insects^ and upon the fat unctuous humour that it sucki out of the earth. They build in moors and marshes, laying four or five eggs ; they generally leave us in the summer time, and go into other countries, as other birds of passage; but some are said to abide all the summer in marshy places, where they likewise breed. They feed in drains of water springs, and other fenny places. The Sandpiper genus includes at least forty varieties, and among them are the Huff, the Knoty the PurrOf the Turnstone, ih^" Dunlin^ and the Lapwing* The Sandpiper itself is a small bird, seldom exceding the size of a thrush, at least in England, and some of them are no t bigger than a sparrow. In the milder climates there are larger species, such as the green, the spotted, the red, imd^xho, gambel sandpipers, manv of v/hich have been seen as large as a pi- geon. That with which we are most acquaint- ed, weighs about two ounces ; it has a brown liead streaked witli black, the back and coverts brov.n, mixed with a glossy green, and the breast and T/uJiujf. 2.tifiiii/i(/ _ OF BIIIDS^ FISH, Sec. 27 md belly quite white. The whole of this tribe have a shrill pipe, or whistle, from which they derive their name, and which they constantly make use of. The rw^ is the, least known, its race being confined to the north of Europe during the summer, and in England onlv visitins; certain parts, viz. Lincolnshire, the Isle of Ely, and the adjacent parts of Yorkshire, in the spring. The male, which is called the ruff, from the remarkable bunch of feathers which surrounds its neck just below the head, is so various in its plumage, that it is not easily described ; the ground is, however, mostly brown. The fe- male, which is called the reeve, is less than the ruff, md has her plumage more of a uniform brown. This bird is so noted for its conten- tious spirit, that it has obtained the epithet of ihtjighter. In the beginning of spring, when these birds arrive among our marshes, they are observed to engage, with desperate fury, as:ainst each other. It is then that the fowlers, seeing them intent on mutual destruction, spread their nets over them, and take them in great num- bers ; yet, even in captivity, their animosity still continues. The people that fatten them up for sale, are obliged to shut them up in close "E 2 dark ^^ NATURAL HISTORY .dark rooms ; for if they let ever so little light in among thera, the turbulent prisoners instantly fall to fighting each other, and never cease till each has killed his antagonist, especially, says Willoughby, if any body stands by. A similar animosity, though in a less degree, prompts all this tribe ; but when they have paired, and be- gun to lay, their contentions are then over. The Knot is three inches less than the ruff, measuring not more than nine inches, and weighing only four ounces and a half. The head and neck are asb colour, the back and scapulars brown, with a white bar on the wings. They frequent the coasts of Lincolnshire from August to November, and, when fattened, are preferred by some to the ruffs themselves. The Purroy or Stint ^ weighs only an ounce and a half, and is in length seven inches. A white stroke divides the bill and eyes. The upper parts of the plumage are brownish ash- colour, the breast and belly white, as are the lower parts of the quill feathers. These birds come in vast flocks on our sea-coasts in winter, and in their flight observe uncommon regu- larity, appearing like a white or. dusky cloud. They were formerly a frequent dish at our ta- bles, and known by the name of stints. ■' '" ' . The OF »1RI>S, F13H^ Sec. ^^ The Turnstone is about the size of a thrush. The bill is nearly an inch long, and turns a lit- tle upwards. The head, throat, and belly, are white, the breast black, and the neck encircled with a black colour. The upper parts of the plumage are of a pale reddish brown. These birds take their name from their method of fmd- hio- their food, which is by turning up small stones with their bills, to get at the insects which lurk under them. The Dunlin is the size of a jack snipe. The upper parts of the plumage are ferruginous, marked with large spots of black, and a little white ; the lower parts are white, with dusky streaks. It is found in all the northern parts of Europe. The Lapwing is about the size of a com- mon pigeon, and is covered very thick with plumes which are black at the roots, but of a different colour on the outward part. The feathers on the belly, thighs, and under the wings, are most of them white as snow; and the under part on the outside of the w^ing- is white, but black lowrr. It has a great liver divided into two parts ; and, as some authors affirm, no crall. They make a great noise with their wings in flying ; so NATURAL HlSTOllY flying; and are called pee-wits in the North dt England and throughout Scotland, from their particular cry. They build their nest on the ground in the middle of some heath or field, open and exposed to view, laying only a few straws or bents under the eggs, which are commonly about four or five in number, and so like the ground they lie on in colour, that it is not easy to find them, notwithstanding they lie so open ; for they arc of a dirty yellow, speckled all over with large black spots and strokes. The young ones arc covered with a thick down, and immediately forsake the nest as soon as hatched ; runninir away with the shells upon their back, and foU lowing the old ones like chickens. It is said of this bird, that the further vou are from her nest, the more clamorous she is, and that the nearer you are to it, the less concerned she appears, going quietly before you, that she may draw you from the true place, and induce you to believe it is v/here it is not. They arc found in most countries in Europe ; and are accounted very delicate eating, the flesh being tender and well -tasted. The Green Plover is much about the same size, and has a short, round, black bill, sharp at Ploia-- FIG. Wu/er Sen . Coot. OF BIRDS, FISH, ^C. Jl *it the end, and a little hooked. The tongue^ which fills all the lower chap of the bill, is tri- angular at the tip, horny underneath, and turns s. little up. The. feathers of the back and wings are black, thick -set with transverse spots of a yellowish green colour ; the breast is brown, spotted with yellowish green ; and the belly white. It has no hind claw or spur. They are found in France^ Switzerland, Italy, and in most counties of England ; in all which places they are esteemed a choice dish, their flesh being very tender, and of an exceed- ingly agreeable flavour.. They feed chiefly upon worms ; though some authors have affirmed they live, like the grasshopper, upon nothing but dew, their in- testine being almost always found empty. This bird was called Paradalis by the an- cients, from its beautiful spots, which some- v,'hat resemble those of the leopard. There are few gentlemen that delight in gardens, but know how necessary and useful the lapwing and plover are, for the destroying of worms, snails, caterpillars, and such other insects as generally intest those places ; and it is very common to leave the care of that part of tlie gardener's office to a few of these pretty- creatures. at NATURAL HI3T0BY creatures^ after pulling the large feathers from their wings to prevent their flying abroad. The Grei/ Plover is about the bigness of the former; but the bill is somewhat longer and thicker, and it has a very small hind claw or spur. The head, back, and lesser feathers of the wings, are black, with tips of a greenish grey. The breast, belly, and thighs, are white, 48 are also the feathers under the bill ; and the throat is spotted with brown or dusky spots. 71ie tail is very short, insomuch that the wings exceed it in length. Their iiesh is very tender and delicate, and no less esteemed than that of the former. ; The Rin^ftd Plover is seven inches and a half long, though it only weighs two ounces ; the bill is half an inch long, ann fish, dnd fish are universally the ^^ tyrants of ea^'b other." The ov »fRDs, riSH^ &c. 43 The Olive J Sea-pipe, or Oj^Ur -catcher, is a bird very common on the western shores ajwi sea coasts of South Wales. It generally weigiiA about half a pound : its bill is of an orange co- lour, and about two inches and a half long, endmg in a sharp point, the upper part being a little longer than the under; the eyes and th& edges of their lids are of a fine red ; the quiil. feathers, head, and all the upper parts of tha body down to the middle of the breast, are blacky except a crescent of white whlcla runs alon^ the throat ; the belly^ rump, jwid most of the» covert feathers, are white; the lower pact o£ the tail is white, but the tips of the tail feathem are all entirely black ; the legs and the feet are of a yellowish red, and tlie middle and oater- most toes are united by a slight kind of mem- brane. This bird has been called sea-pipe, eu- tirely from living on the sea shores, and its co- lours being so suddenly contrasted from black to white ; and oyster-cateher, from the facility with which it takes that fish : for this purpose, whenever it comes near a parcel of them,, it patiently watches round until one opens >ts< shells,, which is instantly perceived by the birdy who with amazing quickness thrusts in its beak, and almost instantaneously separates, tlie G C oyster 44 NATURAL HISTORY oyster therefrom : besides oysters, it feeds upon limpets, and almost all kinds of shell fish ; but, notwithstai^iding they make the principal part of its food, its flesh is rank and very ill fla- voured. Of the Phalaropc there are three varieties ; the common one perfectly resembles the sand- piper, except the scolloped membranes on the toes : they are small birds, scarcely ever weigh- ing above an ounce. The grey phalarope has the upper parts of the plumage ash -coloured, varied a little with brown and white, and the breast and belly white. The red phalarope only differs from the former, in having the upper parts of the plumage of a deep lead colour, strip- ed with a dusky yellow, and the under parts of a dusky red. They are not a very common bird, but are sometimes found in the marshy parts of the country. To these birds, with long legs and flnny toes, we will add one species more, with short legs and finny toes ; namely, the Grebe, whose appetites and manners, it is true, are similar to those of the web-footed class, but it resembles those above described in the peculiar form of its toes, and also bears some similitude in its manners. The OF JRIRDS, FISH, &C. 4.5 The Grebe is larger than either of the former, and its phimage is white and black ; it differs also in the shortness of its legs, which are made for swimming, and not walking ; in fact, they are, from the knee upward, hid in the belly of the bird, and have consequently very little mo- tion. By this mark, and by the scolloped fringe of the toes, this bird may be easily distinguish- ed from all others. As they are thus, from the shortness of their wings, ill formed for flying, and, from the un- common shortness of their legs, utterly unfit- ted for walking, they seldom leave the water, but usually frequent those broad shallow pools where the faculty of swimming can be turned to the greatest advantage, in fishing and seeking their prey. They are chiefly, in this country, seen to frequent the meres of Shropshire and Cheshire, where they breed among reeds and flags, in a floating nest, kept steady by the weeds of the margin. The female is said to be a careful nurse of its young, being observed to feed them most assiduously with small eels ; and when the little brood is tired, the mother will carry them either on her back or under her wings. This bird preys upon fish, and is almost perpetually diving. 46 NATURAL HISTORY divinsT. It does not shew much more than the head above water: it is very difficult to be shot, ' as it darts down on the appearance of the least danger. It is never seen on land, and, though disturbed ever so often, will not leave that lake where, alone, by diving and swimming it can find food and security. It is chiefly sought, for the skin of the breast, the plumage of which is of a most beautiful silvery white, and as glos- sy as satin. This part is made into tippets, but the skins are out of season about February, losing their bright colour; and in breeding time their breasts are entirely bare. There are a great number of varieties of the grebe enumerated, but the most beautiful is the eared grebe, which is a native of Siberia, It is about the size of a teal, and is distinguished by a tuh of orange- coloured feathers, which shoot* out from the side of each eye. OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 47 OF THE WEB-FOOTED FOWL IN GENERAL. IT has been frequently observed, that, throughout the whole race of birds, one tribe encroached so nearly upon the nature and ha- bitudes of another, that it was not easy to draw the line which kept them asunder ; but in those which are properly called water fowl. Nature h4S marked them with a variety of indelible cha- racters. The first great distinction in this class ap- pears in the toes, which are webbed together for swimming. Those who have remarked the feet or toes of a duck, will easily conceive how admirably they are formed for making way in the water. When men swim, they do not open the fingers, so as to let. the fluid pass through them, but, closing them together, present one brpad surface to beat back the water, and thus 48 NATURAL HISTORY thus push their bodies along. What man per- forms by art, Nature has supplied to water fowl 5 and, by broad skins, has webbed their "toes together, so that they expand two broad oars to the water, and thus, moving them al- ternately, with the greatest ease paddle along. We must observe, also, that the toes are so con- trived., that, as they strike backward, their broadest hollow surface beats the water ; but, as they gather them in again for a second blow, .their front surface contracts, and does not im^ pede the bird's progressive motion. As their toes are webbed in the most conve- nient manner, so are their legs also made most fitly for swift progression in the water. The legs of all are short, except three, namely, the flamingo, the avosetta, and the corrira. — Except these, all web-footed birds have very short legs, and these strike while they swim with great facility. Were the leg long, it would act like a lever whose prop is placed to a disadvantage; its ii^otions would be slow, and the labour of moving considerable. For this reason, the very few birds whose webbed feet are long never make use of them in swimming : the web at the bottom seems only of service as a broad base, to prevent them from sinking while they or BIRDS, FISH, Jce. 49 they walk in the mud; but it otherwise rather retards than advances their motion. The shortness of the legs in the web-footed species renders them as unfit for walking on land, as it qualifies them for swimming in their natural element. Their stay, therefore, upon the former is but short and transitoiy; and they sel- dom venture to breed far from the sides of those waters where they usually remain. In their breeding seasons, their young are brought up by the water- side; and they are covered with a warm down, to fit them for the coldness of their situation. The old ones also have a closer, warmer plumage, than birds of any other class. It is of their feathers that our beds are com- posed ; as they neither mat nor imbibe humi- dity, but are furnished with an animal oil that glazes their surface, and keeps them separate. In some, however, this animal oil is in too great abundance ; and is as offensive from its smell as it is serviceable for the purposes of liousehold Economy. The feathers, therefore, of all the penguin kind, are totally useless for do- mestic purposes; as neither boiling nor bleach- ing can divest them of their oily rancidity. In- deed, the rancidity of all new feathers, of what- ever water fowl they be, is so disgusting, that VOL. III. JI our 50 NATURAL HISTORY our upholsterers give nearly double the price for old feathers that they afford for new : to be free from smell, they must all be lain upon for some time j and their usual method is to mix the new and the old together. The quantity of oil with which most water fowl are supplied, contributes also to their warmth in the moist element where they reside. Their skin is generally lined with fat 3 so that, with the warmth of the feathers externally, and this natural lining internally, they are better de- fended against the changes or the inclemencies of the weather than any other class whatever. As, among land birds, there are some that are found fitted entirely for depredation, and others for a harmless method of subsisting upon vegetables, so also among these birds there are tribes of plunderers, that prey, not only upon fi?h, but sometimes upon water fowls them- selves. There are likewise more inoffensive tiibcs that live upon insects and vegetables only. Some water fowls subsist by making sudden stoops from above, to seize whatever fish comes near the surface; others again, not furnished with wings long enough to fit them for flight, take their prey by diving after it to the bottom. Hence or IJIUDS, FisH^ Sec. 51 Hence naturalists unifbrmly observe, that all ^ water fowl naturally fall into three distinc- ' tions. Those of the Gull kind, that, with ' long legs and round bills, fly along the sur- ^ face to seize their prey. Those of the pen- ' guin kind, that, with round bills, legs hid ^ in the abdomen, and short wings, dive after ^ their prey: and thirdly, those of the Goose ^ kind, with flat broad bills, that lead harm- ^ less lives, and chiefly subsist upon msects and ^ vegetablos.'" These distinctions are strongly and evidently marked by Nature. The gull kind are active and rapacious ; constantly, except when they breed, keeping upon the wing; fitted for a life of rapine, with sharp straight bills for piercing, or hooked at the end for holding their fishy prey. In this class we may rank the albatross, the cormorant, the gannet or solan goose, the shag, the great brown gull, and all the lesser tribe of gulls. The Penguin kind, with appetites as vora- cious, bills as sharp, and equally eager for prey, are yet unqualified to obtain it by flight. Their wings are short, and their bodies large and heavy, so that they can neither run nor flv. But thev are formed for divino- in a very H 2 peculiar 52 NATURAL HISTORY peculiar manner. Their feet are placed so far backward, and their legs so hidden in the abdo- men, that the slightest stroke sends them head foremost to the bottom of the water. To this class we may refer the penguin, the hawk, the skout, the sea-turtle, the bottle-nose, and the loon. The Goose kind are distinguishable by their flat broad bills, covered with a skin j and their manner of feeding, which is mostly upon vege- tables. In this class we may place the swan, the goose, the duck, the teal, the widgeon, and all their numerous varieties. Such are the general peculiarities that belong to each of these tribes, of which, as well as of their distinctive ones, we shall have occasion to speak more fully when we come to treat of them individually. ^" — ^^---i ^j^ _ll_l -^"^^^S ^^^I^^M ^mS ^'^■■1 . '^^^^SIk^^^^ IB^H ^^^^ ^^^■■P^^^^:^^ »|^^B ^^ ^ ^^B iK^'3 ^^^^^^^^PH^^^^^M FI0.83. ThcFthcan. Fi0.3-t. OF IlIRDS, FISH^ See. 53 OF THE PELICAN. AS this bird has not only to boast a pre-emi- nence in size, but possesses a singularity of con- formation peculiar to itself, it necessarily has a claim to take the lead in that species to which it seems to be most nearly allied, although it cannot be said absolutely to belong to it. The Pelican of Africa is much larger in the body than a swan, and somewhat of the same shape and colour. Its four toes are all webbed together; and its neck in some measure re- sembles that of a swan: but the singularity in which it differs from all other birds is in the bill and the great pouch underneath, which are won- derful, and demand a distinct description. This enormous bill is fifteen inches from the point to the opening of the mouth, which is a consider- able distance behind the eyes* At the base, the 54 NATURAL HISTORY the bill is somewhat greenish, but varies to- wards, the end, being of a reddish blue. It is rather thick in the beginning, but tapers off to the end, where it hooks downwards. The under chap is still more extraordinary, for to the lower edges of it hang a bag, reach- ing the whole length of the bill to the neck, which is said to be capable, in some, of con- taining fifteen quarts of water. This bag the bird has a power of wrinkling up into the hollow of the under chap, but by opening the bill, and putting one's hand down into the bag, it may be distended at pleasure. The skin of which it is formed will then be seen of a bluish ash-colour, with many fibres and veins running over its surface. It is not covered with fea- thers, but with a short downy substance as smooth and as soft as satin, and is attached all along the under edges of the chap, fixed backward to the neck of the bird by proper li- jraments, and reaches nearly half way down. When this bag is empty, it is not seen; but when the bird has fished with success, it is then incredible to what an extent it is often dilated. For the first thing the pelican does in fish- ing is to fill up the bag; and then it returns to digest its burthen at leisure. When the bill is OF BIRDS, FISH, tk-C. 5"» is opened to its widest extent, a person may run his head into the bird's mouth, and con- ceal it in this monstrous pouch, thus adapted for very singular purposes. Yet this is nothing to what Ruysch has affinned, viz. that a man has been seen to hide his whole leg, boot and all, in the monstrous jaw of one of these ani- mals. At first appearance this would seem impossible, as the sides of the under chap, from which the bag depends, are not above an inch asunder when the bird's bill is first opened ; but then they are capable of great separation ; and which must necessarily be the case, as the bird preys upon the largest fish, and hides them by dozens in its pouch. Father Tertre afBrms, that it will hide as many fish as will serve sixty hungry men for a meal. This extraordinary bird is a native of Africa and America. It was once known in Europe, particularly in Russia, but it seems of late to have deserted these parts entirely. This is the bird of which so many fabulous accounts have been propagated; such as its feeding its young with its own blood, and its carrying a provi- sion of water for them in its great reservoir when it has made its nest in the desart. The absur- dity of the first account answers for itself; and 50 NATURAL HISTORY as for the latter, according to the account of every naturalist who has observed them, the pelican uses its bag for very different purposes than that of filling it with water, either for its •own use or that of its progeny. Its amazing pouch may be considered as ana- logous to the crop in other birds, with this dif- ference, that as the latter lies at the bottom of the gullet, so this is placed at the top. Thus, as pigeons and other birds macerate their food for their young in their crops, and then supply them, so the pelican supplies its young by a more ready contrivance, and macerates their food in its bill, or stores it for its own particu- lar sustenance. The ancients were particularly fond of the marvellous, and almost .unanimously agreed in giving this bird admirable qualities and parental affections: struck, perhaps, with its extraor- -dinary figure, they were willing to supply it with as extraordinary appetites ; and having found it with a laro-e reservoir, thev were pleased with turning it to the most tender and parental uses. Bat we have the autho- rity of BuiTon fcr asserling that the pelican is a very sluggish, voracious bird, and very ill fitted to take those flights, or make those cau- tion? OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 57 tious provisions for a distant time, which the ancients were so partial of attributing to them. Father Labat, who seems to have studied their manners with great exactness, has given a minute history of this bird, as he found it in America. " The pelican,'* says he, " has strong wings, furnished witli thick plumage of an ash colour, as are the rest of the feathers over the whole body. Its eyes arc very small when compared to the size of its head : there is a sadness in its countenance, and its whole air is melan- choly. It is as dull and reluctant in its mo- tions as the flamingo is sprightly and active. It is slow of flight ; and, when it rises to fly, performs it with diflficulty and labour. No- thing, as il would seem, but the spur of ne- cessity could make these birds change their situation, or induce them to ascend into the air : but they must either starve or flv. '' They are idle and inactive to the last de- gree, so that nothing can exceed their indo- lence but their gluttony : it is only from sti- mulations of hunger that they are excited to labour, for otherwise they would continue always in fixed repose. When they have raised themselves about thirty or forty feet above the surface of the sea, they turn their VOL. III. I " heads. 58 NATUPwAL HISTORY *^ heads, with one eye downwards, and continue '^ to fly in that posture. As soon as they per- ^^ ceive a fish sufficiently near the surface, they ^^ dart down upon it with the swiftness of an "• arrow, seize it with unerring certainty, and '^ store it up in their pouch. They then rise *^ again, though not without great lahour, and " continue hovering and fishing, with their head ^^ on one side as before. ^^ This work they continue with great effort *^ and industry till their bag is full, and then ^^ fly to land to devour and digest at leisure the *' fruits of their industry. This, however, it *^ would appear, I hey are not long in perform- '' ing, for towards night they have another hun- *' gry call, and they again reluctantly go to la- " hour. At night, when their fishing is over, '' and the toil of the day crowned with success, '* these lazy birds retire a little way from the ^' shore ; and, though with the webbed feet " and clumsy figure of a goose, they will be *' contented to perch no where but upon trees, '^ am.ong the light and airy tenants of the fo- '^ rest. There they take their repose for the '^ night, and often spend a great part of the day, ** except such times as they are fishing, silting '* in dismal solemnity, and, as it would seen), '' half OF ]iHti)s, risii, ^c. 69 " half asleep. Their attitude is^ with the head *' resting upon their great hag, and that resting ^^ upon their breast. There they remain with- ^^ out motion, or once chang-ino; their situation, ^^ till the calls of hunger break their repose, and '^ till they find it indispensibly necessary to fill ^^ their magazine for a fresh n.eal. Thus their '^ life is spent between sleeping and eatino;; and, ^^ being as foul as they are voracious, they are " every moment voiding excrements in heaps *^ as large as one*s fist/' ^^ The same indolent habits,*' says another author, '' seem to attend them even in prepar- . ^' ing for incubation, and defending their young ^^ when excluded. The female makes no pre- ^^ paration for her nest, nor seems to chuse any *' place in preference to lay in, but drops her " eggs on thg bare ground, to the number of ^^ five or six, and there continues to hatch them, " Attached to the place, without any desire of ^^ defending her eggs or her young, she tamely " sits and suffers them to be taken from under " her. Now and then she just ventures to ^^ peck, or to cry out, when a person ofiers to '' beat her off.'' She feeds her young with fish macerated for some time in her bag; and, when they cry, flies of!' for a new supply. Labat tells us that he I 2 took 60 NATUllAL HISTOKY took two of these when very young, and tied them by the kg to a post stuck in the ground, where he had the pleasure of seeing the old one come for several diiys to feed theu?, reiiiaining with them the greatest part of the day, and spending the night on the branch or a tree that hung over them. By these means they were all three become so familiar that they suffered them-" selves to be handled ; and the young ones very kindly accepted whatever fish he ottered them. These they always put, first, into their bag, jmd then swallowed them at their leisure. It seems, however, that they are disagree- able and useless domestics : their gluttony can scarcely be saiisfied ; ihcir flesh smells ver)' ran- cid, and tastes a thousand times worse than it smells*. The native Americans kill vast num- bers ; not to eat, for they are not fit even for the banquet of a savage, but to convert their large bags into purses and tobacco pouches. They bestow no small pains in dressing the skin with salt and ashes, rubbing it well with oil, and then forming it to their purpose. It thus becomes so soft and pliant, that the Spanish * The flesh of the pelican need not have been forbidden among the Jews, says BufFon; for it forbids itself, by its bad taste, its marshy smell, and its oily fatness. women OF BIRDS, FISH, &,C. 6l women sonietiiiies adorn it with gold and em- broidery, to make work-bags of. Yet, with all the seeming stupidity of this bird, it is not entirely incapable of instruction in a domestic state. Faiher Raymond says, that he has seen one so tame and well educated among the native Americans, that it would go oft' in the morning; at the word of command, anl re- turn, before night, to its master with its great paunch distended with plunder; apart of which the savages would make it disgorge, :md a part they would permit it to reserve for itself. " The pelican,*' as Faber relates, ^^ is not ^destitute of other qualifications. One of ^ those which was brought alive to the Duke ^ of Bavaria's court, where it lived forty years, ^ seemed to be possessed of very uncommon ^ sensations. It was much delighted in the ^ company and conv^ersatit )n of men, and iiv ^ music, both vocal and instrumental ; for it ^ would willingly stand by those who sung or ^ sounded the trumpet, and, stretching cut its ^ head and turning its ear to the music, listen ^ very attentively to its harmony, thouc:h its ^ own voice was little pleasanter than the ^^ braying of an ass.'* Gessncr tells us the craperor Maximilian had a tame pelican, w hich lived 62 NATURAL HISTORY lived for above eighty years, and which al- ways attended his army on their march. It was one of the largest of the kind, and had a daily allowance by the emperor's orders. As another proof of the' great age to which the pe- lican lives, Aldrovandus makes mention of one of these birds that was kept several years at Mechlin, and was verily believed to be fifty years old. If we were to follow a not unfre- quent practice of drawing conclusions from co- lours alone, we should be led to make the as- sertion, that of the pelican species there were many varieties, since there are some entirely white, others whose back and wings are a light brown, and others which, though the most sin- gular, are not the least numerous, that have one half of their wing feathers white and the other black ; that is, the bottoms next the body white, and the exterior half black, and whose tails are also of the latter colour. Besides these, it is asserted by Father Morella, in his voyage to Congo, that, in the road to Sin^a, he met with a great number of pelicans, all black except their breasts, which nature has adorned v.'ith a flesh colour. They are very numerous in all parts of Asia and Africa; and Thevenol assures us that he saw them swimming on the banks of some parts OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 6ti parts of the Nile*, near the Red Sea, hke geese, ill such numbers that it was impossible to count them. THE ALBATROSS. THIS is one of the largest and most formid- able birds of Africa and America, but as yet few opportunities have occurred by which the parti- culars of its natural history could be obtained, and therefore that little which has been mention- ed must be subject to some doubt. In speaking of its figure, Edwards appears to have been the most correct : he says, '^ the body is rather " larger than that of the pelican, and its wings, ^^ when extended, ten feet from tip to tip. The ^^ bill, which is six inches long, is yellowish, ^^ and terminates in a crooked point. The top " of the head is of a bright brown, the back is of ^^ a dirty deep spotted brown, and the belly and ^' under the wings is white : the toes, which are '^ webbed, are of a flesh colour.'* * The pelican fishes in fresh water as well as in the sea, and therefore it is not to be wondered at that they should be found on the banks of rivers. Such 64 NATURAL HISTORY Such are the principal traits which he points out in this bird's figure ; but of any peculiarities in its manner and disposition, which might lead us to some knowledge of its history, the great- est part of our naturalists have been entirely si- lent. A bird has, however, been described by Wicquefort, under the title of tlie Alcatraz, which, from its size, colours, and choice of its prey, leaves no room to doubt of its being the same as we have under consideration. He describes it as a kind of great gull, as large in the body as a goose, of a brown colour, with a long bill, and living upon fish, of which they kill great numbers. The Albatross is an inhabitant of the tropical climates, and also beyond them as far as the Straits of Magellan in the South Seas. It is one ot the most fierce and formidable of the aquatic tribe, not only living upon fish, but al- so such small water fowl as it can take by sur- prise. It may be considered as the principal of the gull kind: like the whole of them, it seeks its prey upon the wing, and chiefly pursues the flying fish that are forced from the sea by the dolphais. The ocean in that part of the world presents a veiy different appearance from the seas with which we are surrounded. In our sea? or iJiriDS, Fisii^ Sec. 65 ser.? we sec nothing but a dreary cxpnnse. ruffled by winds, and sec^Tiingly forsaken bv every class of animated nature. But the tro- pical seas, and the distant southern latitudes be- yond them, are all alive with birds and fishes, pursuing and pursued. Every various species of the gull-kind are there seen hovering on the wing, at an immense distance from the shore. A picture of which has been thus most ably drawn : *^ the flyinsi; fish are everv moment ^^ rising to escape from their pursuers of the '^ deep, only to encounter equal dangers in the *^ air. Just as they rise the dolphin is seen to *^ dart after them, but generally in vain; the '• gull has more frequent success, and often " takes them at their rise ; while the albatross '^ pursues the gull, obliges it to relinquish ^' its prey : so that the whole horizon presents '^ but one living picture of rapacity and inva- rs ■ i* These facts have been too clearly ascertained to leave the smallest kind of doubt ; but how far we are to credit Wicquefort, in what he adds concerning this bird, the reader is left to determine. He remarks that " as these birds, *^ except when they breed, live entirely remote •* from land, so they are often seen, as it should VOL. 111. K *^ seem. 06 KATUKAL HISTORY ^^ seem, sleeping in the air. At nighty when *• they are pressed by slumber, they rise into '* the clouds as high as they can; there, put- '^ tiiig their head under, one wing, they beat the ^' air with the other, and seem to take their '^ ease. After a time, however, the weight " of their bodies, only thus half supported, '^ brings them down ; and they are seen de-. ^^ scending, with a pretty rapid motion, totha-. '^ surface of the sea. Upon, this they again ^* put forth their efforts to rise.; and thus alter- '^ nately ascend and descend at their e^se. But. '^ it sometimes happens, that, in these slumber-. ^' ing flights, they are off their guard, and fall ^^ upon deck, when they are taken." What, truth there may be in this account of ; that author we shall not pretend to determine; but certain it is, that few birds float upon the^ air with more case than the albatross, or support themselves a longer time in that element. They seem never to fed the accesses of fatigue ; but are prowling night and day upon the wing, yet always emaciated and hungry. Thouoh this bird is of the most voracious disposition, and thus tyrannical in its nature, yet he is also a proof that there are some asso- ciates which even tyrants themselves form, to which o!.' ijiRtos^ FISH, fee. 67 which they are induced either by caprice or hfesi^lty. the albatross seems to have a peculiar aHection for the penguin, and a pleasure in its feociety. They are always seen to chuse the same places of breeding ; some distant uninha- bited island, where the ground slants to the sea, as the penguin is not formed either for flying or climbing. In such places their nests are seen together, as if they stood in need of mutual as- sistance and protection. Captain Hunt, who for some time commanded at bur settlement upon Falkland Islands, has declared that he was often amazed at tlie union preserved between these birds, and the regularity with which they b.iilt together. In that bleak and desolate spot, where the birds had long continued undisturbed possessors, and no way dreaded the encroach- ments of men, they seemed to make their abode with a degree of comfort commensurate to their expectation of its duration. They were seen to build with an am.azing degree of uniformity; their nests, by thousands covering fields, and resembling a regular plantation. In the middle, on high, the albatross raised its nest, on heath sticks and long grass, about two feet above the surface : round this the penguins made their lower settlements, rather in holes in the ground; ^ '^ and 68 NATURAL HlSTOllY and most usually eight penguins to one albatross* Nothing is a stronger proof of M. Buffon's fine observation, that the presence of man not only destroys the society of meaner animals, but their instincts also ; for \vc have it as a positive fact, that these nests are now totally destroyed ; the society is broken up, and the albatross and penguin have gone to breed upon more desert shores, where they conceive themselves safe from his intrusion, and where they can securely preserve that peace and safety w-hich he con- stantly interrupts. There are three other species of albatross, all of them smaller than the preceding ; the most particular one is called the yelloio-nosed albatross. The upper parts of the plumage are a dusky blue black, and the rump and under parts white 5 but what peculiarly distinguishes it is, that the bill, which is four inches long, is black, all but the upper ridge, which is yellow quite to the tip. It inhabits the South Seas within tb'.; tropics. OF BIRDSj FISH, CCC (j'J THE CORMORANT*. THE Cormorant is commonly described as being about the size of a large Muscovy duck_, and distinguishable from all other birds of this kind by its four toes being united together by membranes; and by the middle toe being toothed or notched, like a saw, to assist it in holding its fishy prey. The head and neck of this bird are of a brownish black; and the body thick and heavy, more inclining in figure to that of the goose than the gull. The bill is straight, except towards the end, where the upper chap bends into a hook ; the tail is about five inches long, composed of hard stiff feathers, and the legs are strong and thick, but very short. But notwithstanding the seeming heaviness * The word Cormorant is from the French Cormoran, ill which lan<;uagc it was formerly called Cormaran or Cormarin, arid was derived from Corheau murin, i. e. ra- ven of the sea. This appellation of raven it had also amon?? the Greeks; and the Latins called h Corvus acjiiaticuHf though it has nothing in common with the raven except its black plumage. , . of 70 NATURAL HlStOIiy of its make, there are few birds that can exceed it in power of wing, or strength of flight. As soon as the winter approaches they are seen dispersed along the sea-shore, and ascending up the mouths of fresh-water rivers, carrying destruc- tion to ail the finny tribe. They are remarkably voracious, and have a most rapid digestion. Their appetite is for ever craving. This gnawing sensa- tion may probably be increased by the great quan- tity of small worms that fill their intestines, and which their unceasing gluttony contributes" to engender. Thus formed with the grossest appetites, this unclean bird ha5 a most rank and disagreeable smell, and is more foetid than even ca.rion in its most healthful state. ^^ Its form," says the ingenious Mr. Pennant, " is disagreeable; its *' voice is hoarse and croaking; and all its *^ qualities obscene. No v/onder, then, that *' Milton should make Satan personate this ^^ bird, when he sent him upon the basest pur- *' poses, to survey with pain the beauties of ^^ Paradise, and to sit devising death on the " tree of life. It has been remarked, how- **" ever, of our poet, that the making a water '^ fowl perch on a tree, implied no grea^ ac- *^ quaintance with the history of Nature. In *^ vindication of Milton, Aristotle expressly '^ sav>-, OF BIRDS, FISH, fciC. 71 " says, that the cormorant is theor\ly water fowl *^ that sits on trees. We have already seen the '^ peUcan of this number ; and the cormorant's *' toes seem as fit for perching upon trees as for *^ swimming ; so that our epic bard seems to have ^' been as deeply, versed in natural history as in '^ criticism." " Indeed/^ says a modern author, ^^ this bird *^ seems to be of. a multiform nature; and> *^ wherever fish are to be. found, watches their ^^ migrations. It is seen as well by land as ^^sea; it fishes in freshrwatcr lakes, as well '^ as in the depths of the ocean; it. builds in *' the clius of rocks, as well as on trees ; '*' and preys not only in -the day time, but by " night.'' Its ir.defatigable nature, and its great power iji catching fish, were probably the motiv^es that induced some nations to breed this bird up tame, for the purpose of fishing ; and Willoughby assures us, it was once used in England for that purpose. The description of their manner of fish* ing is thus given by Faber. '^ When they carry '^ them out of tlie rooms vvhere they are kiept, to '^ the fish-pools, they hood- wink them, that they/ ** may not be frightened by thev/ay. When they^ ^* ar€ come. to therivefg, tl>ey.takeo.frth€ir hoods; " and 72 KATUUAL HISTORY '^ and havina; tied a leather thonsr round the lower ^^ part of their necks, that they may not swal- '^ low down the fish they catch, they throw '^ them into the river. . They presently dive " under water, and there for a long time, ^' with v,onderful swiftness, pursue the fish ; '^ and when they have caught them, rise to the '^ top of the water, and, pressing the fish lightly ^^ with their bills, swallow them ; till each bird ^^ hath, after this manner, devoured five or six *^ dishes. Then their keepers call them to the ^^ fist, to which they readily fly ; and, one after '^ another, vomit up all their fish, a little bruised ^^ with the first nip given in catching them. '' When they have done fishing, setting the '^ birds en some high place, they loose the ^^ string from their necks, leaving the passage '^ to the stomach free and open ; and, for tlieir '^ reward, they throw them part of their prcv ; ^^ to each one or two fish, which thcv will *^ catch most dexterously, as they are falling in ^' the air." At present, the cormorant is trained up in every part of China for the same purpose, w here there are many lakes and canals. " To this '^ end," says Le Comte, '^ they are educated as ^^ men rear up spaniels or hawks^ and one man *^ can OF UIRDSj FISH, SCC. 7^ can easily manage a hundred. The fisher carries them out into the lake, perched on the gunnel of his boat, where they continue tran- quil, and expecting: his orders with patience. When arrived at the proper place, at the first signal given, each flies a different way to fulfil the task assigned it. It is ver^' pleasant, on this occasion, to behold with what saga- city they portion out the lake or the canal where they are upon duty. They hunt about, they plunge, they rise a hundred times to the surface, until they have at last found their prey: they then seize it with their beak by the middle, and carry it without fail to their master. When the fish is too large, they then give each other mutual assistance: one seizes it by the head, the other by the tail, and in this manner carry it to the boat toge- ther. There the boatman stretches out one of his long oars, on which they perch, and, being deliv^ered of their burthen, they fly ofl* to pursue their sport. W^hen they are wea- ried, he lets them rest for a while ; but they are never fed till their work is over. In this manner they supply a very plentiful table ; but still their natural gluttony cannot be re- YOL, in. L ^^ claimed 74 NATURAL HISTORY '^ claimed even by education. They have al-- ^^ ways, while they fish, the same string fastened '' round their throats, to prevent them from de- " vouring their prey, as otherwise they would '^ at once satiate themselves, and discontinue '^ the pursuit the moment they had filled their '< bellies." The cormorant is the best fisher of all birds ; and though very fat and heavy with the quan- tity it devours, it is nevertheless generally upon the wing. The great activity with which it pursues, and the vast height it drops down to dive after its prey, present a most amusing spectacle to those who stand on the shore. This large bird is seldom seen in the air, but where there are fish below; and then they must be near the surface, before it will venture to souse upon them. If they are at a depth be- yond what the impetus of its flight makes the cormorant capable of diving to, they certainly escape him; for this bird cannot move so fast under vvater, as the fish can swim. It seldom, however, makes an unsuccessful dip ; and is often seen rising heavily, with a fish larger than it can readily devour. Goldsmith says, " it souKtimes happens, that the cormorant " has OF lilUDS, FISH, 5cC. 75 **has caught the fish by the tail; and conse- *^ quently the fins prevent its being easily ^^ swallowed in that position. In this case the ^^ bird is seen to toss its prey above its head, " and very dexterously to catch it when dc- '*' scending, by the proper end, and to swallow ^^ it with ease." The ambassador from the Duke of Hol- stein, in his travels into Muscovy and Persia, speaks of a kind of large wild geese, or cor- morants, which they met with, and which the Muscovites call babbes. This author describes them as being larger than swans, and that their bills were above a foot long, two fingers broad, and forked at the end ; under the bill, he says, they had a bag of skin^ which they could contract quite close, or extend it to such a size as to contain more than two s^allons of liquor; and this they used as a reserva- tory for the fish they take, until they can swallow them. He says, that one of them that was shot upon the Caspian sea, measured two ells and a half between the two extremities of the wings, and seven feet from the head to the ends of the toes. In this measurement v»e may possibly not unfairly conclude, that I' 2 some 76 NATURAL HISTORY some little allowances must be made at his being struck with astonishment at the animal himself, and wishing to convey the same asto- nishment to others. Fernandes says there are cormorants in Mexico, which have teeth within their bills. The Shag, or, as the French call it, the lesser -Cormorant, is another of this genus. The common shag is in length two feet six inches, and the extent of its wings eight feet. The general colour of its plumage is black, the belly is dusky, and the head and neck glossed with green. The crested shag is somewhat less than the preceding, and is less common. There are tvvo kinds which are natives of Kamtschatka ; these are distinguished by the names of the vio- let and the red-faced shags, being so ornamented with those colours. There are besides several others found in New Zealand, and also in Africa, in the latter of which there arc two species not larger than a teal. The whole of these, like the cormorants, build in trees, OF uiiiDS, risH, &c. 77 TIIR GANNET, OR SOL AND GOOSE THE Gannet is about the size of a tame goose, but its wings are much longer^ frequently measuring six feet when extended. The bill is six inches long, straight almost to the point, where it inclines downwards, and the sides are irregularly jaaged, that it may hold its prey with greater security. It differs from the cormorant in size and colour, being larger and chiefly white; and by its having no nostrils, but in their place a long furrow that reaches almost to the end of the bill. From the corner of the mouth is a narrow slip of black bare skin, that extends to the hind part of the head; beneath the skin is another, that, like the pouch of the pelican, is dilatable, and of size sufficient to contain five or six entire herrings, wdiich in the breeding season it carries at once to its mate or its young. These 78 NATURAL HISTOKy These birds, which subsist entirely upon fish^ chiefly resort to those uninhabited islands where their food is found in plenty, and men seldom come to disturb them. The islands to the north of Scotland, the Skelig islands of the coast of Kerry, in Ireland, and those that lie in the north sea of Norway, abound with them. But it is on the Bass island, in the Firth of Forth, where they are seen in the greatest abundance. ^^ There is a small island,'' says the celebrated Harvey, '^ called the Bass, not '^ more than a mile in circumference. The ^^ surface is almost wholly covered during the '^ months of May and June with their nests, '^ their eggs, and young. It is scarcely pos- ^' sible to walk without treading on them : the ^^ flocks of birds upon the wing are so nume- ^' rous, as to darken the air like a cloud ; and *^ their noise is such, that one cannot, without ^^ difficulty, be heard by the person next to '^ him. When one looks down upon the sea '^ from the precipice, its whole surface seems ^^ covered with infinite numbers of birds '^ of different kinds, swimming and pur- ^' suing their prey. If, in sailing round the ^^ island, one surveys its hanging cliffs, in eve- " ry crag or fissure of the broken rocks may " be OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 79 '^ be seen innumerable birds, of various sorts *' and sizes, more than the stars of heaven, '^ when viewed in a serene night. If they are *' viewed at a distance, either receding, or in '^ their approach to the island, they seem like ^^ one vast swarm of bees/* They are not less frequent upon the rocks of St. Kilda. Martin assures us, that the inhabi- tants of that small island consume annually near twenty-three thousand young birds of this spe- cies, besides an amazing quantity of their eggs. On these they principally subsist throughout the year, and, from the number of these visitants, make an estimate of their plenty for the season. They preserve both the eggs and fowls in email pyramidal stone buildings, covering them with turf-ashes, to prevent the evaporation of their moisture. The gannct is a bird of passage. In winter it seeks the more southern coasts of Cornwall, hovering over the shoals of herrings and pil- chards that t-hen come down from the northern sea : its first appearance in the northern islands is in the beginning of spring, and it continues to breed till the end of summer. But, in gene- ral, its motions are determined by the niigra tions of the immense shoa|s of herrings that come pouring 80 NATURAL HISTORY pouring down at that season through the British Channel, and supply all Europe as well as this bird with their spoil. The gannet assiduously attends the shoal in their passage, keeps with them in their whole circuit round our island, and shares with our fishermen this exhaustless banquet. As it is strong of wing, it never comes near the land; but.is constant to its prey. Wherever the gannet is seen, it is sure to an- nounce to the fishermen the arrival of the fmny tribe; they then prepare their nets, and take the herring's bv millions at a drauc^ht ; while the gannet, who came to give the first information, comes, though an unbidden guest, and snatches its prey from the fisherman even in his boat. While the fishing season continues, the gannets are busily employed ; but when the pilchards disappear from our coasts, the gannet takes its leave to keep them company. The cormorant has been remarked for the quickness of his sight; yet in this quality the gan- net seems to exceed him. It is possessed of atrans- parent membrane under the eye-lid, with which it covers the whole eye at pleasure, without ob- scuring the sight in the smallest degree. This seems a necessary provision for the security of the eyes of so weighty a creature, whose me- thod OF BIRDS, riSH, 8CC. §1 ihod of taking prey, like that of the cormorant, is by darting headlong down from a height of a hundred feet and more into the water to seize it. These birds are sometimes taken at sea, by fast- ening a pilchard to a board, which they leave floating. The gannet instantly pounces down from above upon the board, and is killed or maimed by the shock of a body where it ex- pected no resistance. These birds breed but once a year, and lay only on^ egg ; but if that be taken away, they lay another; and if that be also taken away, then a third ; but never more for that season. Their es:s:s are w^hite, and rather less than those of the common goose; and their nest large, composed of such substances as are found float- ing on the surface of the sea. The young birds, during the first year, differ greatly in colour from the old ones ; being of a dusky hue, speckled with numerous triangular white spots; and at that time resembling the colours of the speckled diver. They come yearly to the Bass Island, which is an almost inaccessible rock, situ- ated at the mouth of the Forth in Scot- land, seven miles from land, and faces St. Andrews on the North, North Berwick on VOL. TIT, M the $2 NATURAL HISTORY the Southj and the German ocean on the East* It was anciently a kind of prison for those who dissented from the then estabhshed church. There they breed in great numbers ; it belongs to one proprietor, and care is taken never to frig;hten away the birds when laying, or to shoot them upon the wing. By these means they become so confident that they alight and feed their young ones unconcerned at any person's- being near them. They feed upon fish, as we have observed ; yet the young gannet is counted a great dainty by the Scots, and sold very dear; so that the lord of the above islet makes a con- siderable annual profit by the quantity that is . taken from it. They quit this island towards the latter end of autumn, and when they return in the spring, there is usually but three or four at first, which precede the rest as so many spies, or harbin- gers, and are followed by the flock a few days after, as is attested by several creditable authors. They build their nests in the rock, and employ for that purpose such a quantity of sticks as is alinost incredible ; insomuch that the inhabitants of that part of the country, upon finding a few nests, think themselves plentifully provided with fuel for a twelvemonth. They deposit their or BIIIDS, FlSHj &C. S.'j their eggs in the holes of the rock^ and while they are laying them, rest one foot upon another; whence Johnston thinks they derive their name from Solea, the sole of the foot. They feed their young ones with the most delicate sort of fish; and if, in flying away with one, they see another they like better, they immediately drop the first, and plunge into the water again with great violence. They likewise disgorge a great quantity of fish, which was formerly used as food by the' garrison of the castle. OF GULLS, AND THEIR AFFINITIES, THESE are in fact but a smaller kind of the genus we have just been describing, and whose habits and manners correspond exactly; they also resemble the more powerful in their appe- tites for prey, but have not such certain me- thods of obtaining it. In general, therefore, M C the 84 NATURAL HlSTOriY the industry and audacity of this tribe increase in proportion to their imbecility. The cormo- rant, or, as we may more properly say, all the great gulls, live at the most remote distance fronfi man ; the smaller are obhged to reside wherever they ean take their prey, and to come into the most populous places when solitude can no longer grant them a supply. The generality of naturalists have placed in this tribe of the gull, properly so called, not only its own varieties, consisting of more than twenty, but also those of the petrell, and of the sea-swallow, which together are six or seven more. Of these, however, the gulls may be distinguished by an angular knob en the lower chap; the petvells by their wanting this knob; and the sea-swallow by their bills, which are straight, slender, and sharp pointed. They all, however, agree in their appetites and tlicir places of abode. The gull, and all its varieties, are very v. cil known in every part of the kingdom. '' It is," says an ingenious modern, ^' seen with a slow- '^ sailing flight hovering over rivers to prcv ^^ upon the smaller kinds of fish ; it is seen ^^ following the ploughn)an in fallow fields to i^ pick up insects 3 and Vv^hcn living annual <« food OF BIRDS, FISH, SlC. 85 " food does not offer, it has even been known *^ to eat carrion and whatever else of the kind *^ that it finds. Gulls are found in great plenty '^ in every place; but it is chiefly round our " boldest rockiest shores that they are seen in ^^ the greatest abundance ; it is there that the '' gull breeds and brings up its young; it is '^ there that millions of them are heard scream- ^' ins: with discordant notes for months toge- ^^ ther. ^^ Those who have been much upon our ^^ coasts know that there are two different *^ kinds of shores ; that which slants down to *' the water with a gentle declivity, and that *^ v/hich rises with a precipitate boldness, and ^' seems set as a bulwark to repel the force of '^ the invading deeps. It is to such shores as *' these that the whole tribe of the gull kind re- *^ sort, as the rocks offer them a retreat for ^•^ their young, and the sea a sufficient supply. *' ft is in the cavities of these rocks, of which ^^ the shore is composed, that the vast variety '^ of sea-fowls retire to breed in safety. The '^ waves beneath, that continu;iliy beat at the '* base, often wear the shore into an impend - " ing boldness ; so that it seems to jut out *^ over the v/ater, w^hile the raging of the sea *^ makes BG NATURAL HISTORY '^ makes the place inaccessible from below. ^' These are the situations to which sea-fowl '^ chiefly resort, and bring up their young in ^^ undisturbed security. ^^ Those who have never observed our bold- ^' est coasts have no idea of their tremendous ^^ sublimity. The boasted works of art, the ^' highest towerSj and the noblest domes, are ^^ but ant-hills when put in comparison : the ^' single cavity of a rock often exhibits a coping ^^ higher than the cieling of a Gothic cathe- ^^ dral. The face of the shore ofiers to the ^^ view a wall of massive stone, ten times ^^ higher than our tallest steeples. What ^^ should we think of a precipice three quar- ^' ters of a mile in height ? and yet the rocks ^^ of St. Kilda are still higher! What. must be ^^ our awe to approach the edge of that im- *' pending height, and to look down on the un- *^ fathomable vacuity below; to ponder on the '^ terrors of falling to the bottom, where the '^ waves that swell like mountains are scarcely '^ seen to curl on the surface, and the roar of ^^ a thousand leagues broad appears softer than '^ the murmurs of a brook ? It is in these for- '^ midable mansions that myriads of sea-fowls '^ are for ever seen sporting^ flying in security " down OF BIRDS^ FISH, &C. 87 •^^ down the depth, half a mile beneath the feet ^^ of the spectator. The crow and the chough ^^ avoid those frightful precipices ; they chuse ^' smaller heights, where they are less exposed ^^ to the tempest : it is the cormorant, the gan- ^^ net, the tarrock and the tcrnc, that venture ^' to those dreadful retreats, and claim an undis- ^' turbed possession. To the spectator from ^^ above, those birds, though some of them are ^' above the size of an eagle, seem scarce as '^ large as a swallow -, and their loudest scream- '^ mg is scarce perceptible. ^' But the generality of our shores are not so ^* formidable. Though they may rise two hun- ^' dred fathoms above the surface, yet it often ^^ happens that the water forsakes the shore at *' the departure of the tide, and leaves a noble '^ and delightful walk for curiosity on the beach. *^ Not to mention the variety of shells with ^'^ which the sand is strewed, the lofty rocks *' that hang over the spectator's head, and that '^ seem but just kept from falling, produce in *^ him no unpleasing gloom. If to this be " added the flutterino- the screamino;, and the " pursuits of myriads of v.ater-birds, all either •' intent on the duties of incubation, or roused *^ at the presence of a stranger, nothing can " compose 68 NATURAL HISTOUY ^^ compose a scene of more peculiar solemnity. '^ To walk along the shore when the tide is de- *' parted, or to sit in the hcl'ow of a rock when *' it is come in, attentive to the various sounds *^ that gather on ever\' side, above and below, *' may raise the mind to its highest and noblest '^ exertions. The solemn roar of the waves '' swelling into and subsiding from the vast ca- '^ vems beneath, the piercing note of the gull, *' the frequent chatter of the guillemot, the " loud note of the awk, the scream of the heron, ^^ and the hoarse deep periodical croaking of '' the connorant, all unite to furnish out the ^^ grandeur of the scene, and turn the mind to '^ HIM who is the essence of all sublimity. ^' Yet it often happens that the contcmpla- '^ tion of a sea -shore produces ideas of an hum- ^^ bier kind, yet still not unpleasing. The va- *' rious arts of these birds to seize their prey, *^ and sometimes to elude their pursuers, their " society among each other, and their tender- ^^ ness and care of their young, produce gentle " sensations. It is ridiculous also now and " then to see their various ways of imposing " upon each other. It is common enough, for '' instance, with the arctic gull, to pursue the *^ lesser gulls so long, that they drop their ex- "^ crements^ OF KIIIDS, FISH, &C. 89 ^^ crements through fear, which the Imngry '* hunter soon gobbles up before it ever reaches ^' the water. In breeding, too, they have fre- '^ queut contests : one bird^^who has no nest of '^ her own, attempts to dispossess another, and '^ put herself in the place. This often happens '^ among all the gull kind ; and the poor bird, ^^ thus displaced by her more powerful invader, ^' will sit near the nest in pensive discontent^ ^^ while the other seems quite comfortable in ^^ her new habitation. Yet tliis place of pre- ^^ eminence is not easily obtained, for the in- ^' stant the invader goes to snatch a momentary ^^ sustenance, the other enters upon her own, ^^ and always ventures another battle before she '^ relinquishes the justness of her claim. The contemplation of a cliff thus covered with hatching birds affords a very agreeable en- tertainment ; and as they sit upon the ledges of the rocks, one above another, with their ^^ white breasts forward, the whole group has, '^ not unaptly, been compared to an apotheca- ^^ ry's shop. '' These birds, like all others of the rapa- ^^ cious kind, lay but few eggs ; and hence, in ^^ many places, their number is daily seen to ^^ diminish. The lessening of so many rapa- VOL. III. N ^^ cious ► NATURAL HISTORY cious birds may, at first sight, appear a be- nefit to mankind ; but when we consider how many of the natives of our islands are sustain- ed by their flesh, either fresh or saUed, we shall find no satisfaction in thinking that these poor people may in time lose their chief sup- port. The gull in general, a* was said, builds on the ledges of rocks, and lays from one egg to three, in a nest formed of long grass and sea weed. Most of the kind are fishy tasted, with black stringy flesh ; yet the young ones are better food ; and of these, with several other birds of the penguin kind, the poor inhabitants of our northern islands make their wretched banquets. They have been long used to no other food ; and even a salted gull can be relished by those who know no better. Almost all delicacy is a relative thing ; and the man who repines at the luxu- ries of a well served table, starves not for want, but from comparison. The luxuries of the poor are, indeed, coarse to us, yet still they are luxuries to those ignorant of better: and it is probable enough that a Kilda or a Feroe naan may be found to exist, out-doino" Apicius himself in consulting the pleasures • of the table. Indeed, if it be true that such " meat OF BIRDS, FISH, SCC 91 *'' meat as Is the most dangerous earned is the *^ sweetest, no man can dine so luxuriously as '^ these, as none venture so hardily in the pur- *^ suit of a dinner." In Jacobson's IIistor\' of the Fcrce Islands we have the following account of the method in which these birds are taken. '^ It cannot be *^ expressed with what pains and danger they ^^ take these birds in those high steep cliffs, ^' whereof many are two hundred fathoms high. *^ But there are men, apt by nature and fit for ^^ the work, who take them usually in t\va nian- ^^ ners : they either climb from below into '^ these high promontories, that are as steep as *^ a wall, or they let themselves down with a ^^ rope from abo 'e. When they climb from '- below, they have a pole, five or six ells long, ^^ with an iron hook at the end, which they '^ that are below in the boat, or on the clif^j ^^ fasten unto the mean's girdle, helping him up '^ thus to the highest place where he can "-et '^ footing : afterwards they also help up ano- '^ thcr man : and thus several climb up as ^^ high as possibly they can ; and where they *^ find difficulty they help each other up by ^^ thrusting one another up \\\ih. their poles. ^^ When the first hath taken footing, he draws N e " the t)2 NATURAL HISTORY ^^ the Other up to him by the rope fastened to '^ his v.aist ; and so they proceed till they coni€ '^ to the place where the birds build. They '' there go about as well as they can in those. " dangerous places, the one holding the rope '^ at one end, and fixing himself to the rock ; ^^ the other going at the otlier end from plac€ *' to place. If it should happen that he *' chanceth to fall, the other, that stands firm, '^ keeps him, and helps him i.p again. But if " he pa3s:th safe, he likewise fasten* himself *^ till the other has passed the same dangerous '^ place also. Thus they go about the clifls af- '^ ter birds as they please. It often bappeneth, '^ however (the more is the pity), that where *• one doth not stand fast enough, or is not *^ sufiiciently strong to hold up the other in his '' fall, that they both lall down, and are killed. ^' In this manner some do fall every year.'' , Mr. Peter Clanson, in his description of Norway, states, that there was anciently a law in that country, that whosoever climbed on tlic cliffs in this manner, so that he fell down and died, if the body was found before burial, his next kinsman should go the same way; but if he durst not or could not do it, the dead body was not then to be buried in sanctified earth, as the OF BIRDS^ FISlIj &C. 9^ the person was too full of temerity, and liis own destroyer. '^ When the fowlers," continues Jacobson, '^ cr.-t, in the manner aforesaid, to the birds ^^ within the cliffs, where people «eldom coane, *^ the birds are so tame, that they take thera '^ with their harwls, for thc\^ will net readily ^^ leave their voung : but when they are w'ld, ^^ they cast a net (with which they are provid- " ed) over them, and entangle them therein. '^ In the mean time there lieth a boat beneath, " in the sea, wherein they cast the birds killed ; " and in this manner they can, in a short time, " fdl a boat with fowl. When it is pretty fair ^^ weather, and there is good fowling, the fowl- " ers stay in the cliffs seven or eight days to- *^ scether, for there are here and there holes in ^* the rocks where they can safely rest; and they ** have meat let down to them with a line from **^ the top of the mountain. In the mean time '^ some go every day to them, to fetch home *^ what they have taken. " Some rocks are so difficult, that thev can ^^ in no manner get unto them from below; '^ wherefore thev seek to come down thereunto " from above. For this purpose they have a " rope, eighty or a hundred fathoms lorvg, " made 94 NATURAL HISTORY ^^ made of hemp, and three inches thick. *^ The fowler maketh the end of this fast about *^ his waist and between his legs, so that he ^^ can sit thereon, and is thus let down, with ^' the fowling staff in his hand. Six men hold ^^ by the rope, and let him easily down, laying '^ a large piece of wood on the brink of the ^' rock, upon which the rope glideth, that it '' may not be worn to pieces by the hard and '^ rough edge of the stone. They have, be- '^ sides, another small line that is fastened to ^^ the fowler's body, on which he pulleth, to ^^ give them notice how they should let down '^ the great rope, cither lower or higher, or to ^^ hold still, that he may stay in the place where- ^^ unto he is come. Here the man is in great ^^ danf;er, because of the stones that are loos- '^ ened from the cliff by the swinging of the '^ rope, and he cannot avoid them. To re- '' medy this, in some measure, he hath usually '^ on his head a seaman's thick and shaggy cap, ^^ which defends him from the blows of the ^^ stones, if they be not too big; but if they are, ^' which is frequently the case, it costeth him his '' life: nevertheless, they continually put them- '' selves in that danger for the wretched body's '^ food sake, hoping in God's mercy and protec- *^ tion X OF BIRDS, FISH, {k,C. 95 c; ' tion, unto which the greatest part of them de- •^ voiuly recommend themselves when they go " to work ; otherwise, they say there is no ^' other great danger in it except that it is a '^ toilsome and artificial labour ; for he that *' hath not learned to be so let down, and is '^ not used thereto, is turned about with the '^ rope, so that he soon groweth giddy, and ^^ can do nothing ; but he that hath learned the ^^ art considers it as a sport, swings himself *^ on the rope, sets his feet against the rock, *^ casts himself some fathoms from thence, and ^^ shoots himself to what place he will : he knows ^^ where the birds are, he understands how to •^ sit on the line in the air, and how to hold the '^ fowling staff in his hand, striking therewith ^^ the birds that come or fly away ; and when " there are holes in the rocks, and it stretches '^ itself out, making underneath as a ceiling, ^^ under which the birds are, he knoweth how " to shoot himself in among them, and there ^^ take firm footing. There, when he is in " these holes, he niaketh himself loose of the ^^ rope, which he fastens to the crag of the rock '^ that it may not slip from him to the outside "^ of the cliff. He then goes about in the •^ rock, taking the fowl, either with his hands '' or a g6 NATURAL HISTORY <^ or with the fowling staff. Tlius when he « hath killed as n^any birds as he thinks fit, he « ties them in a bundle, and fastens them to a « little rope, giving a sign, by pulling, that '^ they should draw them up. When he has ** wrought thus the whole day, and desires to ^ get up again, he sitteth once more upon the '^ great rope, giving a new sign that they ^ should pull him up, or else he worketh him- ^* self up by climbing along the rope, with his " girdle full of birds. It is also usual, \<^herc " there are not folks enough to hold the great '« rope, for the fowler to drive a post sloping ^^ into the earth, and to make a rope fast there- ^* to, by which he lets himself down without ^^ any body's help, to work in the manner " aforesaid. Some rocks are so formed that " the persons can go into their cavities by '' land. '^ These manners are more terrible and dan- ^^ gerous to see than to describe, especially it " one considers the steepness and height of the '^ rocks, it seeming impossible for a man to ap- " prbath them, much less to climb or ascend. ^' In some places the fowlers are seen climbing '^ where they can only fasten the ends of their *'■ toes and fingers, not shunning such places, " though OF BIRDS^ FISH, hc, 97 " though there be an hundred fathom between *' them and the sea. It is dear meat for these '^ poor peop!?^ for which they must venture ** their hves ; and many, after long venturing, '' do at last perish therein. '^ When the fowl is brought home, a part " thereof is eaten fresh ; another part, when ** there is much taken, being hung up for ^^ winter provision. The feathers are gather- ''^ ed to make merchandize of, for other ex- '^ pences. The inhabitants get a great many '^ of these fowls, as God giveth his blessing *' and fit weather. When it is dark and hazy " they take the most, for then the birds stay ^^ in the rocks ; but in clear weather, and hot " sun- shine they seek the sea. When they pre- '' pare to depart for the season, they keep ^' themselves most there, sitting on the cliffs ^^ tov>rards the sea-side, where the people get at ^* them sometimes with boats, and take them ^^ with fowling- staves.*' StranGfe and almost incredible as the above account may appear, the circumstances are too well known to leave the smallest doubt of this author's veracity ; and the hardihood of the people who inhabit the rocky shores of the nor- thern parts of Europe, in these pursuits, is al- voL. III. O most 93 NATURAL HISTORY most proverbial j with many of them the birds so taken constitute the chief part of their food, and hence, perhaps, necessity has taught them to set danger at defiance. The feathered inhabitants, or rather visitants of these rocks, are of different sorts, consisting of all the varie- ties of the gull, penguin, auk, puffing and guHlemot kinds ; they resort thither early in the spring, and the breeding season being over, they prepare for their departure towards the more southern climates at the commencement of winter, at which period it is that the people are most busily employed in these adventurous undertakings, making it, as it were, a kind of harvest for laying in a store of their winter subsistence. But to return to the subject more immedi- ately under consideration. The whole tribe of gulls are extremely rapid in flight, and will continue upon the wing hovering over the wa- ters in search after prey for several hours toge- ther ; they are very voracious, and appear to be always in want. They differ greatly both in size and plumage, but the most general and most distinctive are. The great Grey Gull, which weighs twelve or fourteen ounces, and is from the point of the OF BIRDS, FISH, ScC. 99 the bill to the extremity of the tail, about twen- ty inches ; and from the point of each wing, when extended, very near four feet. The bill is black, and nearly three inches long, the upper mandible something longer than the under, and a little hooked, or inclining downwards over it; the lower has a rising, or crooked set, towards the extremity : the eyes are grey, the nostrils in a sort of oblong form, the head very large ; the necks of these birds in general arc so short, that when they walk or stand, thev ap- pear so much sunk, or drawn down towards the shoulders, that one would almost imagine they had not any neck at all. The upper side of the back and neck is grey, intermixed w^ith a whitish brovv-n; the back feathers black in the middle, and ash-co- loured towards the edges; the wing feathers are of a dark brown intermixed with black; the throat, breast, belly and thighs, white; the rump is of the same colour, with a few brown spots interspersed. The tail is five or six inches long; the outmost tip of the feathers, on the upper side, are joined by a sort of black cross b*rs, near two inches broad ; the under part also varied with a few dusky-coloured lines. 0 2 The 100 NATURAL HISTORY The legs and feet are yellow, or orange co- loured, and the claws black. The Broun Gull is con^ideiably less than the former ; the bill is about an inch and half long, black towards the extremity, the rest of a light brown or horn colour, shaped much like the former; the eyes are small, the circles yel- low, the nostrils in an oblong form. The head and all the upper parts of the body and wings are of a dusky sort of brown colour, except some of the prime feathers of the wings, which are quite black. The belly and breast are of a more bright colour, interspersed with a consi- derable number of transverse brown lines. The tail is black, the legs and feet of a brownish yellow, the claws black. This seems to be an uncommon bird, and not much known to authors that have written upon the subject, being classed among the gull kind, chiefly from the resemblance of its bill and legs : Mr. Albin says it seems to be a non- descript bird. The Brozvn Headed Gull is much about the size of the former, and the bill is red and sharp pointed: the under mandible bunching out iiiio a small angle, the eyes black, the i rides or circles red j encompassed with a broad circle of pale OF BIRDS^ FISH^ bCC. 101 pale or white feathers; the head and neck brown, the lower part towards the breast more dusky ; the covert feathers of the wings and the back are of an ash-colour, the prime feathers black, with their outer ed2;os^ or webs, white. The rest of the body white, tinctured with a yellowish sort of pale green. The tail is near five inches long, the legs and feet red, the claws black. They are common about Gravesend, in the River Thames. The Bfack and H hitt Gull is by far the laigest oi the gull kind, weighing generally upwards of four pounds, and being twenty-five or tv.'cnty-six inches, irom the point of the bill to the end of the tail ; and from the tip of each wing, when extended, tive feet and several inche:J. The bill appears compressed siucwavs, beirg more than three inches long, and h.ioked towards ihe end, like the rest of this kind; it is of a son oi orange colour; the nostrils in an ob- long form ; the inoulh wide, with a long tongue and very ooen gullet. The irides of the eyes are of a very deliglit- ful red. The wi^^gs and the middle of the back are black, only the tips of the covert and quill feathers are white. Trie head, breast, tail, and other parts of the body are likewise white. The 102 NATURAL IIISTOllY The tail is nearly six inches long, the legs and feet flesh coloured, and the claws black. It is a sea- fowl, and preys upon fishes, which have been taken whole from its stomach. The White Gull is one of the smallest sort, and does not wei2;h above eight or nine ounces ; the form of the bill is very much like those be- fore described, and of a red colour, with an an- gle on the lower mandible : the i rides of the eyes white, encircled with an ash colour. The prime feathers on the wings black, the tips and edges white, extended nearly two inches beyond the tail ; the back and covert feathers grey, or ash coloured; the head, breast, throat, and belly white, tinctured with a pale or faint yellow. The legs are bare of feathers above the knees, and of a dusky green colour; the claws small, but more dusky and blackish. They are said to be useful in gardens, where they destroy the insects and worms ; their feed is chieHy small fish. The birds of this kind are in many places called sea-mezos, in others sea-cobs. The Skua Gull is about the size of a raven; life upper parts of the head, neck, back, and wings are of a deep brown, the under parts a pale, OF BIRDS, FISH, SCC. 105' pale, rusty ash colour. The legs are black, rough, and warty, and the talents very strong and hooked. It is mostly a native of the North, though often found in England. It is a most formidable bird, as it not only preys upon fish, but upon all the ymaller water-fowl, and even on young lambs. It has the fierceness of the eagle in defending its young; and when the inhabitants of the Feroe Isles attack its nest, they hold a knife over their heads, on which the skua will transfix itself in its fall on the in- vaders. On , the rocky island of Foula, one of the Shetland Isles, it is a privileged bird, as it is said to defend the flocks from the eagle, which it pursues and beats off \yith great fury, whenever he presumes to visit the island. The Wagel Gull has its whole plumage com- posed of a mixed brown, ash colour and white. It weighs about three pounds. The Herring Gull resembles the black and white in every thing but size, and that the plu- mage on the back and wings is more inclined to ash colour than black; it weighs thirty ounces. The Glacous Gull, which inhabits Norway, &c. is rather larger than the herring gull, but resembles it in most other respects. The 104 KATURAt HISTORY The Silvery Gull is the same size as the herring gull, and not much difference in plumage and manners. The Tarrock, and the Kitliwake Gulls, like- wise resemble so nearly each other, that some authors affirm the latter to be only the tarrock in a state of perfection. The head, neck, belly, and tail of the kittivvake are of a snowy whiteness ; the back and wings are grey ; and both species have behind each ear a dark spot ; both species are about the same size, viz. fourteen inches ; and the tarrock weighs seven ounces. Of the arc- tic gull the male has the top of the head black ; the back, wings, and tail dusky ; the rest of the body white: the female is entirely briivvn. The i^twit'gidl, or Black-cup, is so called from the head and throat being of a dark or black colour. The red-legged gull, the brown- throated gull, the laughing gull, which only differs from the others in having the legs black instead (^f red, are possibly only varieties of the same species. They are in Icjgth from fifteen to eighteen inches. The back and wings of these birds are in general ash coloured, and the rest of the body white. The ycung birds are thought by some to be good eating. The OF r.IRDSj FISH, 8cc. 105 The Gnat Gull, which is found on the bor- tlers of the Caspian Sea, though distinguished by a black head, is quite a different species from our black-cap, as it equals in size the Barnacle goose, and weighs between two and three pounds: its voice too is as hoarse as that of a raven. The whole genus of Petrels is known by having instead of a back toe only a sharp spur or nail ; they have also a faculty of spouting from their bills, to a considerable distance, a large quantity of pure oil, which they do, by way of defence, into the face of any person who attempts to take them. The Fulmar is the largest of the kind which is known in these climates. It is larger than the common gull, being about fifteen inches in length, and in weight seventeen ounces. The bill is very strong, yellow, and hooked at the end. The head, neck, and all the under parts of the body are white; the back and wings ash-coloured, the quills dusky, and the tail white. It feeds on the blubber of whales, which supplies the reservoir, whence it spouts, with a constant stock of ammunition. This oil is esteemed by the inhabitants of the North as a sovereign remedy in many complaints both YOL. III. P externa! J06 NATURAL HISTORY external and internal. The flesh is alsa con- sidered by them as a deUcacy, and the bird is therefore in great request at St. Kilda. It is said that when a whale is taken, these birds, in defiance of all opposition, will light upon it, and pick out large lumps of fat even while it is alive. The Shearrcater is something smaller than the preceding. The head and all the upper part of the body are of a sooty blackness ; and the under part and inner coverts of the wings white. These birds are found in the Calf of Man, and the Scilly Isles. In February they take possession of the rabbit burrows, and then disappear till April ; they lay one egg, and in a short time the young are fit to be taken. They are then salted and barrelled. During the day they keep at sea fishing, and tov/ards even- ing return to their young, whom they feed by discharrrinGT the contents of the stomach into their mouths. The Storm)/ Petrel is about the size of a house sv/allow. The general colour of the plumage is black, except about the rump, which is white. They sometimes hover over the water like swallows, and sometimes appear to run on the top of it : they are also excellent divers. . OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. ]07 divers. They are very clainorous, and are called by the sailors Mother Canys chickens, who observe that they never settle nor sit upon the water, but when stormy weather is to be expected. They are found in most parts of the worlds and in the Feroe islands, the inha- bitants pass a wick through the body of the bird, from the mouth to the rump, which serves them as a candle, being fed by the vast pro- portion of oil which this little animal con- tains. There are about twenty species of foreign birds of this kind. In the high southern la- titudes one is found, which is the size of a goose, and on that account is called the (riant petre/. The upper parts of its plumage are pale brown, mottled with dusky white; the under parts are white. Mr. Anderson, in Capt. Cook's last voyage, mentions a petrel found at Kerguelen's Land, which the seamen called Mother Carey's Goose; it is by far the largest known; " they were,*' says he, " so tame, that at first we could kill " them with a stick upon the beach. They '' are not inferior in size to an albatross, and "are carnivorous, feeding on the dead car- f^ ^ ^' casses 108 NATURAL HISTORY '' casses of seals or birds, that were thrown ^^ into the sea. Their colour is a sooty brown, ^^ with a greenish bill and feet." This Mr. Anderson considered to be the same bird that is described by Pernetty, in his voyage to the Falkland Islands, and is called quebratiiehuessos by the Spaniards. The great Tcrriy or Sea SzcalJozc, is about fourteen inches long, and weighs four ounces and a quarter. The bill and feet arc a fine crim- son ; the former is tipt with black, and very slender. The back of the head is black ; the upper part of the body a pale grey, and the under part white. These birds have been called sea swallows, from their appearing to have all the same actions at sea that the swallow has at land, seizing every insect which appears on the surface, and darting down upon the smaller fishes, which they seize with incredible rapidity. The lesser Tern weighs only two ounces five grains. The bill is yellow, and from the eyes to the bill is a black line. In other respects it almost exactly resembles the preceding. The black Tern is of a middle size between the two preceding species. It weighs two ounces and a half. It receives its name from beina: OF BIP.DS, FISK, &C. 109 being all black as far as the vent, except a white spot under the throat. This bird is called in some places the ear swallow. It is a very noisy animal. Among the foreign birds of the tern genus, there are some of a snowy white ; but the most singular bird of the kind is the striated Tern, which is found at New Zealand. It is thirteen inches in length. The bill is black; and the body in general mottled, or rather striped with black and white. The Noddy is about fifteen inches long, and the whole plu- mage a sooty brown, except the top of the head, which is white. It is a very common bird in the tropical seas, where it is known frequently to fly on board ships, and is taken with the hand. But though it is thus stupid, it bites the fingers severely, so as to make it unsafe to hold it. It is said to breed in the Bahama ibiands. J 10 NATURAL HISTORV THE PENGUIN, AND ITS AFFINITIES. WE have already observed, that the whole tribe of gulls, from the cormorant to the sea- swallow, are long winged, swift flyers, hover over the most extensive seas, and dart down upon such fish as approach too near the surface ; whereas the penguin kind are but ill fitted for flight, and still less for walking ; consequently we behold them the almost constant inhabitants of the sea, and living upon fish, which they can pursue to the greatest depths. It is remarked with what softness and ease a gull or a kite waves its pinions, and with what a coil and flutter the duck attempts to move them ; the awkward manner in which, either wild or tame, it attempts to take wing; how many strokes it gives in order to gather a little air ; and even when it is thus raised, how soon, comparatively, it is fatigued with the force of its \ ""~ :-^ ■ M^ > M p ^^1 ^^B'a fl^^H ^^^m ^^a ^ ^^^^^^^^^^^~. i.^v ■ ^iS*' #3vrr::zT'^^'=='f^^^^^Sg^ ^^^S3 T/itStrufiuji OF BIRDS_, FISH, &C. Hi its exertions, and obliged to take rest. But the duck is not, in its natural state, half so unweildy an animal as the whole tribe of the penguin kind. Their wings are much shorter, more scantily furnished with quills, and their pinions placed too forward to be usefully employed. It is, therefore, by no means wonderful that the largest of the penguin kind, that have a tjiick, heavy body to raise, cannot fly at all. Their wings serve them rather as paddles to help them for- ward, when they attempt to move swiftly, and In a manner walk along the surface of the water. Even the smaller kinds seldom fly by choice; they flutter their wings with the swiftest effort without making way ; and though they have but a small weight of body to sustain, yet they seldom venture to quit the water where they are provided with food and protection. The wings of the penguin tribe are unfitted for flight, and their legs are still more awkwardly adapted for walking. All above the knee is- hidden vviihin the belly; and nothing appears but two short legs, or feet as some would call them, that seem stuck under the rump, and upon wliich the animal is very awkwardly supported. They seem, v. hen sitting, or attempting to walk, like 114 KATURAL HISTOkV like a dog that has been taught to sit up, or to walk on his hind legs. Their short legs drive the body in progression from side to side ; and were they not assisted by their wings, they could scarcely move faster than a tortoise. This awkward position of the legs, which so disqualifies them for living upon land, adapts •them admirably for a residence in water. In that element the legs, placed behind the moving body, push it forward v/ith greater velocity ; and these birds, like Indian canoes, are the swiftest in the water, by having their paddles in the rear. Our sailors, for this reason, give these birds a v^ery homely, but at the same time ex- pressive namCb Nor are they less qualified for diving than swimminff. By the smallest inclination of their bodies forward, they lose their centre of gravity ; and every stroke from their feet only tends to sink them the fast.-^r. In this manner they can either dive at once to the bottom, or swim be- tween two vi'atcrs, where they continue fishing for some minutes, and then ascending, catch an instantaneous breath, and descend again to renew their operations. Hence it is that these birds, which are so defenceless, and so easily OV lilUHS, FISH^ &C. 113 easily taken by land, are impregnable by water. If they perceive themselves pursued in the least, they instantly sink, and shew nothing more than their bills, till the enemy is withdrawn. Their very internal conformation assists their powers in keeping long under water. Their lungs are fitted with numerous vacuities, by which they can take in a very large inspiration, which probably serves them for a length of time. As they never visit land, except when they come to breed, the feathers take a colour from their situation. That part of them which has been continually bathed in the water, is white ; while their backs and v^ings are of different colours, according to the different species. They are also covered more warmly all over the body with feathers, than any other bird whatever, so that the sea seems entirely their element ; and but for the necessary duties of propagating the species, it is probable we should scarcely have the smallest opportunity of seeing them, and should be utterly unacquainted with their history. Of all this tribe, the Magellanic Penguin h the most singular and remarkable. In sizeat approaches that of a tame goose. It never flies, as its wings are very short, and covered with stiff hard feathers, and are always seen hanging use- voL. III. O Icssly 114 NATURAL HISTORY lesslydown by the bird's sides. The upper part of the head, back, and rump, is covered with stiff, black feathers; while the belly and breast, as is common with all of this kind, are of a snowy whiteness, except a line of black that is seen to cross the crop. The bill, which from the base to about half way is covered with wrinkles, is black, but marked crosswise with a stripe of yel- low. They walk erect with their heads on high, their fin-like wings hanging down like arms; so that to see them at a distance, they look like so many children with white aprons. Hence they are said to unite in themselves the qualities of men, fowls and fish. Like men, they are up- right ; like fowls they are feathered ; and like fish they have fin-like instruments, that beat the water before, and serve for all the purposes of swimming rather than flying. They feed upon fish, and seldom come ashore, except in the breeding- season. As the seas in that part cf the world abound with variety, they seldom want food; and their extreme fatness seems a proof of the plenty in which they live. They dive with great rapidity, and are extremely voracious. One of them, described by Clusius, though but very young, would swallow an entire herring at a mouthful, and often three success - IV eh of'biuds, fish, ffcc. 115 ively before it was appeased. In consequence of this gluttonous appetite, their flesh is rank and fishy; thouirh the English sailors say, that ^' it is pretty good eating.*' In some, the flesh is so tough, and the feathers so thick, that they stand a blow of a scymitar without injury. They are a gregarious bird j and especially when they come on shore, they are seen drawn up in rank and file, upon the ledge of a rock, standing toge- ther with the albatross,as if in consultation. This is previous to their laying, which generally begins in that part of the world in the month of No- vember. Their preparations for laying are at- tended with no great trouble, as a small depres- sion in the earth, without any other nest, serves for this purpose. The warmth of their feathers and the heat of their bodies are such, that the progress of incubation is carried on very rapidly. In other countries, however, this bird nestles in a very difi'erent manner, and which moft of our naturalists ascribe to the frequent disturb- ances it has received from man or quadrupeds in its former recesses. In some places, instead of contenting itself with a superficial depres- sion in the ground, the penguin is found to burrow two or three yards deep; in others it is seen to forsake the level, and to clamber up O 2 the 116 NATURAL HtStORY the ledge bf a rock, where it lays its 'egg, and hatches it in that bleak, exposed situation ; and which precautions most^ probably have been adopted in consequence of dear-bought experi- ence. In those countries where the bird fears for her own safety, or that of her young, sh6 iTfiay providentially provide against danger, by digging or even by climbing; for both which she is but .11 adapted by nature. In those places, however, where the penguin has had but fc^v visits from man, her nest is made, with the most Confident security, in the middle of some large plain where they are seen by thousands. In that unguarded situation, neither expecting nor fearing a powerful enemy, they continue to sit broodmg; and even when man comes among them, have at least no apprehension of their ■danger. Some of this tribe have been called "the booby, from the total insensibility which they shew when they are sought for their de- struction. " But it is not considered that these '^ birds have never been taught to know the *^ dangers of a human enemy; it is against the ^' fox or the vulture that they have learned to " defend themselves; but they have no idea of " injury from a being so very unlike their na- *' tural opposers. The penguins, therefore, " when of'birds^ fjsh, Scg. 117 ^ when our seamen first cAme amongst them, ' tamely suffered themselves to be knocked on ' the head, without even attempting* an escape. * They have stood to be shot ai in flocks, with- ' out offering to move, in silent wonder, till ^ every one of their number has been destroy- ' ed. Their attachment to their nests was ^ still more powerful; tor the females tamely ' suffered the men to approach and take their ' eggs without any resistance. But the expe- ^ rience of a few of these unfriendly visits has * long since taught them to be more upon their ^ g-uard in chusing their situations, or to leave ' those retreats where they were so little able ' to oppose their invaders.'* The penguin lays but one egg, and in fre- quented shores is found to buiTow like a rab- bit* : sometimes three or four take possession of one hole, and hatch their young together. In the holes of the rocks, where nature has made them a retreat, several of this tribe, as Linnaeos assures us, are seen together. There the fe- * The sands in wiiich they dii; these holes a-e so po- rous, that in walking, a 'Cisou so nerimvs sink.s up to his knees, anri if the pnguin finrl him in her hole, she avenges the intrusion by seizing hold of the lej^s with great force. " males 118 NATURAL HISTORY males lay their single egg in a common nest, and sit upon this their general possession by turns; while one is placed as a centinel^ to give warning of approaching danger. The eggs of the penguin, as well as of all this tribe, are very large for the size of the bird, being generally found bigger than that of a goose. But as there are many varieties of the penguin, and as they differ in size, from that of a muscovy duck to a swan, the eggs diftcr in the same propor- tion. As far as is at present known, the penguins consist of about nine species, and they are com- monly estimated to hold the same place in the southern parts of the world as the auks do in the north, neither of them having been observ- ed within the tropics. The one commonly denominated the Pafa- goniaii Penguin is by much the largest, some of them weighing at least forty pounds, and are four feet three or four inches in length. The bill measures four inches and a half, but it is slender. The head, throat, and hind part of the neck are brown, the back of a deepish ash-co- lour, and all the under parts white. The best known Penguin is not bigger than a common goose, the upper parts of whose plumage are black, OF JRIUDS, FISH, 8CC. ] ][) black, and the under white. At Falkland's islands there are several varieties of penguins, some of which are crested, and are beautiful birds. There is a species at New Zealand not larger than a teal, and in almost all parts of the South Seas they are found in abundance, of all kinds and of all sizes. OF THE AUK, PUFFIN, AND THEIR AFFINITIES. UNDER this denomination comes a race consisting of about twelve different species. They differ in size from the preceding, but pos- sess otherwise nearly the same form, appetites, and manners. The whole of this tribe are par- ticularly distinguished by the form of the bill, which is strong, convex, compressed at the sides, in general crossed with several furrows, and in some degree resembling the coulter of a plough. Like the penguin, they frequent our shores, and have their legs placed behind. They have ICO NATURAL HISTORY have short wings, which are not totally incapa- ble of flight; and they have round bills for seizing their prey, which is fish. They live upon the water, in which they are continually seen diving, and seldom venture upon land ex- cept for the purposes of continuing their kind. The principal of this tribe are the great northern diver, which is nearly of the size of a goose, and differs from the penguin, in being more slender and more elegantly formed; the gre^ speckled diver, which does not exceed the size of a Muscovy duck, and, except in size, greatly resembles the former; the auk, which chiefly differs from the penguin in size and co- lour, being smaller than a duck, and the whole of the breast and belly, as far as the middle of the throat, is white; the guil/emof, which is about the same size, and which differs from the auk, in having a longer, a more slender, and a straighter bill; the scarlet throated diver may be distinguished by its name; and the puffin or coulterneb is one of the most remarkable birds we know. The great Northern Diver, as before ob- served, is full as large as a common goose ; it has a black sharp bill, white at the point, and nearly five inches long : the head and neck of a sort f)F liTRDS, FISH, &C. 121 sort of dusky brown colour, with a spot of white under its bill^ and a white ring about its neck ; below which the neck appears of a greenish co- lour. The prime tcathcrs of each wing are black, except the exterior edges, which are white ; the breast and bellv are much of the same colour; the covert feathers of the win^rs, and the back_, are irregularly spotted with white. The outward toe is nearly five inches long, and the feet are webbed like those of a goose. The Speckled Diver is not quite so large as the preceding • it has a straight sharp bill, of a sort of livid or black colour, with feathers grow- ing down as low as the nostrils, so that part of the neck next to the head is covered with feather set so exceedingly thick, that it looks as large as the head itself ; the lower parts of the body are white, the upper parts of a dusky sort of dark grey, speckled over w^th white spots, which are laro'er upon the wins^s than on the rest of ox o the body. The fore toes are very long, especi- allv the outermost ; the back toes are but little, and short ; the legs of a brown colour, and not very long, and are placed so back, that the bird seems scarce able to walk without erecting itself perpendicular on its tail, which is very short. Some of these birds have a sort of ring VOL. III. R about 122 NATURAL inSTOIlY about their necks, with blacker heads^ and sprinkled with little white specks, and lines ; others are more grev, or ash coloured, and va- ried with white specks, but no lines, which may perhaps be the distinction between the cocks and the hens. The Sea Diver weighs about three pounds ; the bill is upwards of two inches and a half long ; the whole body is covered with fine soft thick feathers, the head and neck of a brown co- lour, but the back darker, each side of the body more dusky ; the bcliy and breast inclining pretty much to a silver colour. It has not any tail at all ; the outermost quill feathers of the wings are blackish, the lesser rows underneath are white. The bill appears compressed sideways, and is narrow, and of a reddish colour 3 the tongue a little cloven, the eyes dark, with a sort of red mixture. The claws appear broad, resembling in some degree the nails of a man's hand, on the one side quite black, and on the other of a pale blue> or rather of an ash colour ; the outer- most toe longer than the rest ; both the legs and toes are broad and fiat. It feeds on small fishes, sea weeds. Sec. The OF lilliDS, FJSII, Sec. I2o The Crested Diver is about the size of a duck; the bill, that part especially towards the head, is of a reddish colour, and in length is some- thing more than two inches; on the top of the head and neck is a beautiful crest of feathers, those on the neck appearing like a collar or ruff, and seem a good deal bigger than they really are; those on the top of the head are black, those on the sides of the neck are of a reddish or cine- reous colour; the back and wings are of a darkish brown, pretty much inclining to black, except some of the exterior edges of the win 12; feathers, which are white. The breast and bellv are of a light ash colour ; it has no tail, the legs and toes broad and flat, much like those before described. It has an unpleasant crv, and will occasionally, when angered or pleased, raise or fall the feathers of his crest. The Great Auk is the size of a goose; its bill is black, about four inches and a quarter in length, and covered at the base with short vel- vet-like feathers. The upper parts of the plu- mage are black, and the lower parts white, with a spot of white between the bill and the eyes, and an oblong stripe of the same on the whias, which are too short for flight. The bird is also H very bad walker, but swims and dives v. ell, R'2 It 11*4 NATURAL HISTORY It is however observed by seamen, that it is ne- ver seen out of soundings, so that its appearance serves as an infallible direction to land. It feeds on the lump-fish, and others of the same size ; and is frequent on the coasts of Norway, Green- land, Nevvfoundland, Sec. It lays its eggs close to the sea-mark. The Razor Bill is not so large as the com- mon tame duck ; it has a large bill of a deep black colour, and nearly two inches long, with a deep incision or furrow in the upper mandi^- ble, which runs a little beyond the nostrils, and is in some degree covered with a sort of nappy thick down-like velvet; the upper part being crooked at the end and hanging over the under^ with transverse channelled lines running across each, and a narrow white line passing from each eye to the corner of the upper mandible. The inner part of the mouth is of a fine yellow, and the eyes of a hazel colour. The head and upper part of the body are black ; the under part of the chin more purple ; the breast, belly, and tips of the covert feathers of the wings white. The tail is black, and about three inches long; the legs, feet, and toes pretty much of the same colour. They breed on the edges of steep OF BlRDSj FISH^ &G. 125 Steep crafTgy rocks, by the sea-shore, laying large white cTgs, spotted with black. The Guillemot is about the size of a com- mon duck ; the upper parts of the body arc of a dark brown colour, inclining to a black, except the tips of some of the wing feathers, which are white ; all the under parts of the body are also white. The tail is about two inches long. It is a simple bird, and easily taken : they ge- nerally go in companies with the coulternebs, and birds of that kind, and breed much in the same manner, on the inaccessible rocks and steep cliffs in the Isle of Man, and likewise in Cornwall ; on Prestholm Island, near Beau- maris, in the Isle of Anglesey ; also on the Fern Island, near Northumberland, and in the cliffs about Scarborough, in Yorkshire, and several other places in England. They lay exceedingly large eggs, being full three inches long, blunt at one end, and sharp at the other, of a sort of bluish green colour, spotted generally with some black spots or strokes. The leaser Guillemot weighs about sixteen ounces. The upper parts of its plumage are darker than those of the former species. The black guillemot 126 NATURAL HISTORY guillemot is entirely black, except a large mark of white on the wings. In winter, however, this bird is sai-d to change to white; and there is a variety in Scotiand not uncommon, which is spotted, and which Mr. Edwards has de- scribed under the name of the spotted Green- land dove. The marbled guillemot, which is found at Kamtschatka, &c. receives its name from its plumage, which is dusky, and elegantly marbled with white. The Puffin is about the size of a teal, weighs near twelve ounces, and is generally twelve inches in length. The eyes are ash coloured or grey; the upper part of the head and body are black, the lower parts white; it has a sort of black ring that encompasses the throat ; the sides of the head are whitish, with a cast of yellow and ash colour ; tiie wings are made up of short feathers, and are very amall : they fly swift while they keep near the surface of the wa- ter, iroin tlie frequent wetting of their wings as the}^ proceed. They have black tails about two inches long : the legs and feet are of an orange colour, and their claws of a dark blue. It would be very difficult to describe the form of the bill of the puffin^ which difiers so greatly from OF BIRDS, FISH, &CC. 12? from that of any other bird. Those who have seen the coulter of a plough, may form some idea of the beak of this strange animal. The bill is flat, but very different from that of the duck ; its edge is upwards. It is of a triangular figure, and ending in a sharp point ; the upper chap bent a little downward, where it is joined to the head : and a certain callous substance encompassing its base, ns in parrots. It is of two colours 3 ash coloured near the base, and red tovvards the point. It has three furrows or groves impressed in it ; one in the livid part, two in the red. The eyes are fenced with a protuberant skin, of a livid colour; and they are grey or ash coloured. These are marks sufficient to distinguish this bird by 5 but its va- lue to those in whose vicinity it breeds, renders it still more an object of curiosity. The puffin, like all the rest of this kind, has its legs thrown so far back, that it can hardly move without tumbling. This makes it rise with difficulty, and subject to many falls before it gets upon the wing ; but as it is a small bird, not much bigger than a pigeon, when it once rises, it can continue its flight with great ce- lerity. Neither 1'2S JJATURAL HISTORY Neither this nor any of the former build a nest ; but lay their eggs either in the crevices of rocks, or in holes under ground near the shore. They chiefly chuse the latter situation ; for the puffin, the auk, the guillemot, 8cc. cannot easily rise to the nest when in a lofty situation. Many are the attempts these birds are seen to make to fly up to those nests which are so high above the surface. Tn renderino; them in- accessible to mankind, they almost render them inaccessible to themselves. They are frequently obliged to make three or four efforts, before they can come at the place of incubation. For this reason, the auk and guillemot, when they have once laid their single egg, whicli is ex- trcmelv large for their size, seldom forsake it until it is excluded. The male, who is better furnished for fiinht, feeds the female dui ino; this interval; and so bare is the place where she sits, that the egg would often roll down from the rock, did not the body of the bird support it. But the puffin seldom chuses these inaccessi- ble and troublesome heights fur its situation. Relying on its courage, and the strength of its bill, with which it bites most terribly, it either mnkes OF BIRDS, FISlIj See. ]\i(J makes or finds a hole in the ground, where to lay or bring forth its young. '- All the winter, (says Willoughby) these birds, like the rest, are absent ; visiting regions too remote for dis- covery. At the latter end of March, or the beginning of April, come over a troop of their spies or harbingers, and stay two or three days, as it were to view and search out for their former situations, and see whetlier all be well. This done, they once more depart ; and about the beginning of May, return again with the whole army of their companions. But if the season happens to be stormy and tem- pestuous, and the sea troubled, the unfortunate voyagers undergo incredible hardships ; and they are found by hundreds, cast away upon the shores, lean and perished with famine. It is most probable, therefore, that this voyage is performed more on the water than in the air; and, as they cannot fish in stormy weather, their streno'th is exhausted before thev can arrive at their wi'shcd-for harbour." The puffin, when it prepares for breeding, which alwavs happens a few days after its ar- rival, begins to scrape a hole in the ground not far from the shore, and when it has penetrated some way into the earth, it then throws itself VOL. 111. S upwR 130 N ATI] UAL HISTORY upon it5 back, and with its bill an cL claws thus burrows inward, till it hns dug a hole with se- veral windings and turnings, from eight to ten feet deep. It particularly endeavours to dig under a stone, where it expects the greatest security. In ihis fortified retreat it lays one egg ; which, thouoh the bird is not much bigger than a pif^con, is full the size of that of a hen. When the young one is excluded, the pa- rents* industry and courage are incredible. Few birds or beasts will venture to attack them in their retreats. When the threat sea-raven, as Jacobson informs us, comes to take away their young, the puffins boldly oppose him. Their meeting affords a most singular combat. As soon as the raven approaches, the puffin catches him under the throat with its beak, and sticks its claws into his breast, which makes the raven, with a loud screaming, attempt to get away ; but the little bird still holds fast to the invader, nor lets him go till they both come to the sea, where they drop down together, and the raven is drowned : yet the raven is but too often suc- ccssfal ; and, invading the puffin at the bottom of its hole, devours both the puffin and its fan):ly. *^ But," Goldsmith observes v/ith much pro- pr'.etv, '^ v\-cre a punishm'^ent to be inflicted for " imn)oralitv OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 131 "^^ immorality in irrational animals, the puffi.i> ^' is justly a sufferer from invasion, as it is ofte;i ^^ itself one of the most ten'ible invaders. ^' Near the Isle of Anglesey, in an islet called ^' Priesholm, their flocks may he compared, for ^' multitude, to. swarms cf bees. In another ^- islet, called the Calf of Man, a bird of thi$ ■^^ kind, but of a diffv.Tent species, is seen in " great abundance. In both places, numbers *^ of rabbits are found to breed ; but the puffin, ^'unwilling to be at the trouble of making a ^^ hole, when there is one ready made, dis- *'• possesses the rabbits, and it is not unlikely ^^ destroys their young. It is in these unjustly ^^ acquired retreats that the young puffins are " found in great numbers, and become a very ^' valuable acquisition to the natives of the place. The old ones (I am now speakin FISH> &C. 143 THE SWAN. SO much difference is there between this bird when on land and in water, that it can hardly be supposed the same, for in the latter nothing can possibly exceed it for beauty and grandeur. When it ascends from its favourite element, its motions arc awkward, and its neck is stretched forward with an air of stupidity; but when seen smoothly sailing along the water, commanding a thousand graceful attitudes, moving at pleasure without the smallest effort, and when it '' proudly rows its state,'' as Milton beau- tifully expresses it, ^^ with arched neck, between '^ its white wings mantling," there is not a more beautiful figure in all Nature. In the exhibition of its form, there are no broken or harsh lines; no constrained or catching motions; but the roundest contours, and the easiest transitions : the eye wanders over every part with insatiable pleasure, and every part takes a new grace with new motion. This bird has long been rendered domestic, and it is now a doubt whether there are any of the 144 NATURAL HISTORY the tanje kind in a .state of nature. The wild swan, as it is called, though so strongly resem- bling this in colour and form, is yet a different bird : it is very differently formed within, and it is at least one fourth less than the tame one; the latter generally weighs full twenty pounds, while the other never exceeds sixteen. The .colour of the tame swan is entirely white* ; that of the wild bird, along the back and the tips of the wings, of an ash-colour. But these are slight differences, compared to what are found upon dissection. In the tame swan, the windpipe sinks down into the lungs in the or- dinary manner ; but in the wild, after a strange and wonderful contortion, like what we have seen in the crane, it enters through a hole formed in the breast-bone, and_, being reflected therein, returns by the same aperture; and being contracted into a narrov/ compass by a broad and bony cartilage, it is divided into two branches, which, before they enter the lungs, are dilated and as it were swollen out into two cavities. * White as a szvan, is a proverb in all countries. The French say, Blanc comwe un a/i^ne ; and Virgil, Galatea Ciindidiui' ci/gnis. In the Syrian language the word for white and for sican is the same. *^ Such," OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 145 ^' Such/' says Buffon, '^ is the extraordinary ^^ ditference between these two animals, which *^ externally seem to be of one species. Whe- " ther it be in the power of long continued *' captivity and domestication to produce this '' strange variety between birds otherwise the ^' same, I will not take upon me to determine. ^' But certain it is, that our tame swan is no ^^ where to be found, at least in Europe,, in a " state of nature/' As it is not easy to account for this diffe- rence of conformation, so it is still more diffi- cult to reconcile the accounts of the ancients with the experience of the moderns, concern- ing the vocal powers of this bird. The tame swan is one of the most silent^ of all birds; and the wild one has a note extremely loud and disagreeable. Probably, the convolutions of the windpipe may contribute to increase the clangor of it ; for such is the harshness of its Toice, that the bird from thence has been called the Hooper. In neither, is there the smallest degree of melody; nor have they, for above this century, been said to give specimens of the smallest musical abilities : yet, notwith- * Yet, thougii so silent, it has the organs af voice like the most clamo!-ous of water-fowl. VOL. iir. • U standinir 14(5 NATURAL HISTORY Standing this, it was the general opinion of an- tiquity, that the swan was a most melodious bird; and that, even to its death, its A^oice went on improving*. From the ancient and collected accounts by Aldrovandus, and the Abbe Gedoyn, it appears, that while Plato, Aristotle, and Diodorus Siculus, believed the vocaiity of the swan, Pliny and Virgil seem to doubt ihat received opinion. In this equi- poise of authority, Aldrovandus appears to de- termine in favour of the Greek philosophers : and the form of the windpipe in the wild swan, so much resembling a musical instrument, in- clined his belief still more strongly. In aid of this also, came the testimony of Pendasius, who affirmed, that he had often heard swans sweetly singing in the lake of Mantua, as he was rowed up and down in a boat ; as also of Olauj Wormius, who professed that many of his friends and scholars had heard them sinsfinff. *•" There was," says he, " in my family, a very * We may, says Buffun, pardon the ancients for their fables ; they were amiable and interesting ; they were superior to meUmcholy and dry truth ; tliey were m'ld emblems to sensible minds. Swans doubtless do not sinjj; at their own death ; ytt, always, in speaking of the last eiTi>rt, the last exertions of departing genius, we exclaim r, 1th tondcMutss, it ii the sang of the Su.a7t, *^ honest or BiiiDS, risii, Jfcc. 147 " honest young man, John Rcstorph, a stu- " dent in divinity, and a Norwegian by birth. This man did, upon his credit, and with the interposition of an oath, solemnly affirm, tha once, in the territory of Dronten, as he was ^^ standing on the sea shore, early in the morn- ^' ing, he heard an unusual and sweet murmur, '^ composed of most pleasant whistlings and ^^ sounds ; he knew not at first whence they ^^ came, or how they were made, for he saw '• no man near to produce them ; but looking *^ round about him, and climbing to the top '^ of a certain promontory, he there espied an '• intinite number of swans gathered together ^* in a bay, and making the most delightful ^' harmony : a sweeter in all his life- time he ^' had never heard/* These were accounts sufficient, at least, to keep opinion in suspense, though in contradiction to our own experience ; but Aldrovandus, to put, as he supposed, the question past all doubt, gives the testimony of a countryman of our own, from whom he had the rdation. This man's name was Mr. George Braun, who assured him that nothincr was more common in England than to hear swans sing; that they were bred in great numbers in the sea, near London ; and that every fleet of ships that returned from their voyages from U 2 distant J4S NATURAL HISTORY distant countries were met by swans, that came joyfully out to welcome their return^ and salute them with a loud and cheerful singing ! '^ It ^ was in this manner (it has been feelingly ' observed) that Aldrovandus^ that great and ^ good man, was frequently imposed upon by ^ the designing and the needy : his unbound- ^ ed curiosity drew round him people of every ' kind, and his generosity was as ready to ^ reward falsehood as truth. — Poor Aldrovan- ^ dus ! after having spent a vast fortune, for ^ the purposes of enlightening mankind ; after ' having collected more -truth and more false- ^ hood than any man ever did before him, he ' little thought of being reduced at last to want ' bread, to feel the ingratitude of his country, ^ and to die a beggar in a public hospital !" From all this we may fairly infer that our modern authorities, in favour of the sintjino; of swans, are more suspicious than conclusive, since they are reduced to this Mr. George Braun, and John Restorph, the native of a country re- markable for ignorance and credulity. Tlie original conceit of the swan's singing before its death, seems to have taken its rise from the fable that the soul of Orpheus was transmigrated into a swan, whence the Greeks and Egyptians have held that bird in great veneration : wlicther it Of JBIRDS, FISH, &C. ] 49 it be from that circumstance or not^ it is most probable that the ancients had some mytho- logical meaning in ascribing m.elody to the swan ; but as for the moderns, their testimony is too doubtful, and their intentions too vague to deserve our regard. The swan^ therefore, must be content with that share of fame which it possesses on the score of its beauty ; since the melody of its voice, without better testimony, will scarcely be admitted by even the credu- lous. Tliis beautiful bird is as delicate in its ap- petites, as elegant in its form. Its chief footl is corn, bread, herbs growing in the water, and roots and seeds, which are found near the margin. At the time of incubation it prepares a nest in some retired part of the bank, and chiefly where there is an islet in the stream. This is composed of water-plants, long grass, and sticks ; and the male and female assist in forming it with great assiduity. The swan lays seven or eight eggs, white, much larger than those of a goose, with a hard and some- times a tuberous shell. It sits nearly two months before its young are excluded : they are ash-co- loured when they first leave the shell, and for some months after. It is not ? little dangerous to approach the old ones, when their little l^mily are 150 NATURAL HISTORY are feeding round them. Their fears, as well as their pride, seem to take the alarm ; and they have sometimes been known to give a blow .with their pinion that has broken a man's leg or arm. It is not till they are a twelvemonth old that the young swans change their colour with their plumage. All the stages of this bird's approach to maturity are slow, and serm to mark its lon- gevity. It is two months hatching ; a year in growing to its proper size; and if, according to the observations of Pliny, Buffon, and other naturalists, that those animals which are longest in the womb are the longest lived, the swan must exceed in length of years every other, for it is the longest in the shell of any bird we know; and, indeed, has been always remarkable for its longevity. Some say that it lives three hundred years ; and Willoughby, who is in ge- neral diffident enough, seems to believe the re- port. A goose, as he justly observes, has been known to live a hundred; and the swan, from its superior size, and from its harder and firmer flesh, may naturally be supposed to live still longer. " Swans were formerly held In such great " esteem in England, that, by an act of Ed- ^^ ward the Fourth, none, except the son of " the or j^iitDS, riSH> &c. ]5i " the king, was permitted to keep a swan, un- «' less possessed of five marks a year. By a sub- *^ sequent act, the punishment for taking their •^ eggs was imprisonment for a year and a day, *' and a fine at the king's will. At present they '^ are but little valued for the delicacy of their '^ flesh ; but many are still preserved for their ^^ beauty. We see multitudes on the Thames ^' and Trent : hut no where greater numbers *' than on the salt water inlet of the sea, near *' Abbotsberry, in Dorsetshire. "" As we have already stated, the wild swan is generally remarked to be of one uniform colour, and much inferior in size to the tame one, and yet some travellers have given a very different account of birds of this species ; in particular Sir Richard Hawkins, in his vovao;e to the South Sea, says, that they observed abundance of fowls as large and as big as swans, that came hovering about their ship, and as the wind calmed, settled themselves in the sea, and i'ad upon the sweepings of the vessel. " Being there- fore," says he, " desirous to see what they were, we threw out a liae and hook, which one of tliese ravenous fowls presently seized, but swal- lowing the bait was himself taken ; but the men that went to lay hold of him were soundly paid for their attempt ; for the bird laid on so fast and 15*2 NATURAL HISTOIIY and so hard upon their fingers^ that they both let go their hold^ and came off shewing their hands both black and blue. After this manner they fished up several others^ but were forced to fasten a cord about their neck, and so drew them up into the ship ; for they were too fierce and furious to be handled. They proved very good meat, tender, and of kindly nourishment ; they were of two colours, some white, and others grey ; their beaks were more crooked than those of falcons 3 in each wing they had three joints, and both wings being octended to their full stretch, from the extremity cf one to that of the other was more than two fathoms." The Cr/gnus, or wild Swan, is however much less than the tame kind : it has a black bill, yellow wax, white body, and has a whistling note: they inhabit the northern world, from the de- sarts of Iceland to the soft climates of Greece. They swarm in the lakes and marshes of Siberia, whence they spread beyond Kamt- schatka, probably to the coasts of America. They breed in great numbers on the shores of Hudson's Bay ; and in Louisiana the Indians sew the skins of these birds toq-ether for a cover- ing, retaining the down on them : the large feathers form diadems for their chiefs, and the lesser ones are woven into ornaments for females of OF liiUDs^ risUj &c. 153 of the higher rank ; and the skin of the leo-s, taken off whole, is used for purses, and has some resemblance to shaoreen. Linnoeus says that wild swans frequently vi- sit Sweden after a thaw, and are caught with ap- ples in which a hook is concealed. In hard winters this bird visits our coasts in laroe flocks, but is not known to breed in Great Britain. Towards October they appear in great numbers among the w^estern isles of Scotland, v/hence they take their departure early in spring, return- ing northward, to breed. Hence in those parts they become the countryman's almanack ; their arrival denoting tbe approach of winter, as tlxeir departure presages the return of sprino-. By the inward formation of its windpipe it be- comes enabled to utter its whoogh, zchoogh, in a veiy loud and shrill though not disagreeable manner, especially when heard above one's head, and modulated by the wind. The Icelanders compare it to the notes of a violin ; but every sound must be pleasing which predicts a termi- nation to their long and uncomfortable winter, and announces a return of the summer's genial influence. Of other peculiarities, it must oe noticed that the wild swan has tuelve ribs on each side ; the tame or mute only eleven : the former carries VOL. Ill, X i*.j J 54 NATURAL inSTOJlY its neck quite erect) the latter always swims, with it arched. it is from the whistling swan that the ancients^ have drawn their metaphors for melody, for the tame bird is never seen on any of those streams celebrated by the Latin bards, and it was but in metaphor that any powers of music were applied to them ; for Virgil, when speaking of these birds as a naturalist, gives them their real note : ** Dant sonitum rauci per stagna loquncia Cvgni." The tame or mute swan is distinguished from the former by the superiority of its size, and by the redness of its bill, though the tip and sides are black, as well as the skin between the eyes and bill. A black callous knob projects over the base of the upper mandible. Till the second year of their age the plumage of these birds is ash colour, but it afterwards changes to a glossy whiteness. The swan begins laying in February, and continues every other day till she has depo- sited seven or eight eggs, generally on a bed of jrrass near the water, where she sits six weeks. In the northern parts of Europe, particularly in Siberia, where they abound, swans become very large, and are much esteemed for the table; and in our own cor.ntrv, in those davs when the f leeance of the table was estimated bv the size as much OF JJIRDS, FISH, Sec. 155 much as the number of good dishes, they made a part of every grand festival. They have lost their ancient esteem, however, among epicures, but are still preserved for their beauty ; for no bird has the command of such elegant attitudes on the water. When the swan was an object of luxury, eve- ry effort was used to confine it to the tables of the rich and great, by penal laws, as absurd and as unjustifiable in the eye of equity or common sense as some similar ones of modern. date; but, by an alteration of taste, the goose has banished the swan from our tables, unless, as before ob- served, for the purpose of ostentation, for cvg- nets are frequently fattened at Norwich about Christmas, and sold for a guinea or upwards a piece. The Ci/gnoidcs, as forming a middle line be-, tween the swan and the goose, has been, not improperly, styled the swan-goose. This species is the swan-goose of Ray, from Guinea, and is also often called the Muscovv goose. They are frequent in Britain, and unite so readily with the common goose, that their offspring will pro- duce as certainly as if no such intermixture had taken place. They walk very erect, with the head much elevated ; make an extraordinary harsh screaming noise, which they continue al- X 2 most 156 NATURAL HISTORY most the whole day through, and without the least provocation or disturbance. The Grey-lag, or wild goose, has a large ele- vated bill, of a flesh colour tinged with yellow ; the head and neck ash coloured ; the breast and belly whitish, clouded with grey, as is also the back ; and the legs of a flesh colour. This spe- <^ies breeds and hatches in the fens, producing eight or nine young ones at a time, where they make their residence the whole year in this coun- try, but on the continent they are migratory, and change their place in very large flocks : they seem to be a general inhabitant of the globe. They are easily tamed ; but at the table are deem- ed superior to the domestic goose. The tame Goose is merely the former, witlv some trifling varieties in colour, chiefly owing, perhaps, to its state of domestication*. It is * The dornesticity of the goose is less ancient than that of the hen : this last lays at all times ; more in summer, less in winter; but geese produce nothing in winter, and they do not usually begin to lay till towards the month of March. Hearing is the sense which a goose seems to have most perfect; but Lucretius, on the contrary, says, that it is the smell in which it is most powerful. " Humanum longe praesentit oderem, " Romulidarum arcis servator candidus anser.'' Nat Rer., Lib. iv. sometimes OF BIRDS^ FISH, &C. 157 sometimes found white, though much more fre- quently verging towards the grey ; and it is a dispute among men of taste which should have the preference. In general geese breed but once in a year, sit about thirty days, and will rear seven : though if well fed they will produce e^^gs sufficient for three broods. Their longevity is very great : authors of respectability say, that it extends to no less than a hundred years. In rural econo- my they are an object of attention and profit ; and in the fens of Lincolnshire they are reared in such multitudes, that many persons at the end of the breeding season will be possessed of between seven and eight thousand geese, vast numbers of which are annually driven to market with a proper proportion of superanuated geese and ganders, that, in consequence of repeated pluckings, prove remarkably toueh and dry. A goose well fed in the common way will weigh fifteen or sixteen pounds; but, by the un- natural practice of cramming, may be increased to almost double that weight. The creatures set apart for this beastly and unwholesome jroro-e arc nailed to the floor by the webs of their feet, to keep them in a state of perfect inaction, and then stufilcd with bean- meal 158 KATURAL. HISTORY meal and other fattening diet ; but French re- finement has increased the barbarity, by putting out the eyes of the wretched animal. Another operation is practised on these birds, which only avarice can palliate, and at which humanity must blush : five times in a year they are totally stripped of their natural covering ; the first time is at Lady-day, for feathers and quills j and the same is renewed for feathers only be- tween that time and Michaelmas. Should the season prove cold, vast numbers die by this sa- vao-e practice, to which the young ones especi-r ally yield with all the tokens of anguish and torment. The Beaji Goose is chiefly distinguished from the former by the resemblance of the nail of its bill to a horse bean. The head and neck are of an ash brown, tinged with a ferruginous colour y breast and belly dirty white ; back, a plain ash colour ; feet and legs saffron, and claws black. They appear in the fens of Lincolnshire in au- tumn, whence they migrate in May to the wild parts of Europe. While in this country they feed much on green wheat. The Barnacle appears in great flocks during^ winter on the north-west coasts of this kingdom, which they quit in February, and retire north- ward OF BIRDS, FISH, i^C. 159 ward even as far as Spitzbergen, to breed. Th« bill of this bird is blacky as are also the legs and tail ; the hind part of the head, the neck, and upper part of the breast and back, are of a deep black ; the rest white. About two hundred years aoo thev received the name of tree s^eese, from an absurd notion that they were generated out of wood, or rather a species of shell that is found sticking to the bottom and fragments of ships. They are easily made tame, and are ver\^ long lifed. Linnceus joins this bird with the laughing goose of Edwards, of which he says it is the male. This latter is generally of a dirty white, marked v.ith large spots of black, and the legs yellow ; visiting England in the same manner as the rest of this migratory genus. The Race-horse, or Loggerhead goose, is a large bird, weighing from twenty to thirty pounds: the bill is of an orange colour; the head, neck, and upper parts of the body, of a deep ash , colour; the thighs inclining to blue; the quills and tail black ; on the bend of the wings is a yellow knob half an inch in length. They are unable to fly, fronl the shortness of their wings, but make amazing progress on tlie water : their flesh is very rank and unsavory. They chiefly inhabit the Falkland Isles^, Staten Land, Sec, and are seen mostly in pair:?. The l60 NATURAL HISTORY The Snow Goose is a handsome bird, but the most stupid even of the goose racCj and in many parts of Siberia suffer themselves to he taken in the most ridiculous manner. The general colour of the plumage is snow white, except the first ten quills, which are black with white shafts ; the legs of a deep red ; the upper mandible of the bill scarlet ; the under,^ white : but the young are of a blue .colour during the first year. They are found plentifully in the spring months about Hudson's Bay, but go further northward to breed. The Americans in the vi- cinity of Carolina take them in vast numbers ; and, after plucking them and taking out their entrails, they deposit their bodies in holes dug in the earth, with which they are covered, and, by the influence of the frost, kept perfectly sweet during the winter. In some parts they arc de- coyed into huts or hovels by a person disguised in the skin of a white rein deer, whom they stupidly tnistake for their leader, and are thus destroyed by hundreds at a time. Another species of the goose is taken in great numbers in Siberia, called the great goose, weighing from twenty- five to fifty pounds Rus- sia. The bill is black, the body dusky, and the legs scarlet. The OF lUPtDSj FISH, 8CC. l6\ The Red-breasted Goose is one of the most elegant of the race, though little known here, its residence being chiefly confined to the coasts of the Icy sea. They generally weigh about three pounds, are quite free from any fishy taste, and therefore his:hlv esteemed for the table. The lluddif Goose is about the size of a mal- lard, and found in Russia and Siberia, whence it migrates into India : its bill is black ; the neck of ari iron colour, encircled with a collar of black ; the rest of the body an obscure or dusky red, except the tail, which is a greenish black. They frequently lay in hollow trees, and the male and female sit by turns ; but all attempts to domesticate them have proved inef- fectual. Their voice is not unlike the note of a clarinet. Their attachments are so yery strong, that, if the male is killed, the female will not quit the gunner till she has been two or three times shot at. The small Barnacle frequents our coasts as well as those of Holland and Ireland in winter: they are of a brown colour, with the head, neck, and breast black, and a v/hite collar. They are easily tamed, and when fatted are thought to be delicate food. In son^e seasons they have been known to resort to the coasts of VOL. 111. Y France 1(52 NATURAL HISTORY Frsixic^ in such numbers as to become a pes^t j and in the winter of 1740, they destroyed aU the corn near the sea coasts, by tearing it up by the roots : a general war was consequently de- clared against them, and though thousands were knocked on the head, yet it availed but little; nor were the inhabitants released from this scourge, till the north wind which brought them ceased to blow, when they took their leave. The Canadensis is a large brown goose, with a black neck and head, found in various parts of North America. At Hudson's Bay they are one of the chief articles of food ; they are killed every year to the amount of three or four thousand, then salted and barrelled. The month of their appearance is called by the Indians goose-moon^ and they are esteemed the harbinger* (/f spring. In a favourable day, an Indian will kill two hundred of them. On their return to the south also, great havoc is made among them by lije Indians, who preserve them in the ground, as we have mentioned above. The flesh of the young birds is accounted good; and their fea- thers are an article of commerce, much in fa- vour at those places where they breed plentifully. This species is much esteemed, as well in Eng- land as in many parts of the Continent, as an OF BIRDS, FISH, &C. 163 an ornament to pieces of water : on the lakes of Versailles and Chantilly, numbers of them were common, mixing with the swans very freely; they easily become familiar, and increase pretty fast. These, and many oilier varieties, are fpnnd in this kind ; which agree in one common cha- racter of feeding upon vegetables, and being re- markable for their fecundity. Of those, how- ever, the tame goose is the most fruitful. Having less to fear from its enemies, leading a more se- cure and a more plentiful life, its prolific powers increase in proportion to its ease; and ihough the wild ofoose seldom lavs above eiffht eeo's, the tame goose is often known to lay above twenty. The female hatches her eggs with great assiduity ; while the slander visits her twice or thrice a dav, and sometimes drives her off to take her })lace, where he sits with great state and composure. But his pride when the young are excluded transcends that of every other animal : he seems then to consider himself as a champion not only obliired to defend his young, but also to keep off the suspicion of danger ; he pursues dogs and men that never attempt to molest him : and, though the most harmless thing alive, he is then the most petulant and provoking. When, in this manner, he has pursued the calf or the mastiff, Y 2 to l64 NATURAL HISTORY to whose contempt alone he is indebted for safety, he returns to his female and her brood in triumph, clapping his wings, screaming, and shewing all the marks of conscious supe- riority. A young goose is generally reckoned very good eating; yet the feathers of this bird still farther increase its value. Of goose feathers most of our beds in Europe are composed ; in the countries bordering on the Levant,, and in all Asia, the use of them is utterly unknown. They there use mattresses, stuffed with wool, or camel's hair, or cotton ; and the warmth of their climate may perhaps make them dispense with cushions of a softer kind. But how it happens that the ancients had not the use of feather beds is surprising : Pliny tells us, indeed, that they made bolsters of feathers to lay their heads on ; and this serves as a proof that they turned feathers to no other uses. The feathers of Somersetshire are most in esteem ; those of Ireland are reckoned the worst. Hudson's Bay also furnishes very fine feathers, supposed to be of the goose kind. The down of the swan is brought from Dantzic. The same place also sends us great quantities of the feathers of the cock and hen; but Greenland, Iceland, OF bihds, fish, &c. 165 Iceland, and Norway, furnish the best feathers of all : and in this number we may reckon the Eider-down, of which we shall take notice in its pkce. The best method of curing feathers, is to lay them in a room in an open exposure to the stxtiy and, when dried, to put them into bags, and beat them well with poles to get the dust off. Eat, after all, nothing will prevent for a time the heavy smell which arises from the pu- trefaction of the oil contained in ever}* feather; no exposure will draw this ofF, how long soever it be continued ; they must be lain upon, which is the only remedy : and, for this reason, old feathers are nmch more valuable than new. THE DUCK*, AND ITS VARmTIES. IT has been universally admitted by all na- turalists, that the tame duck is the most easily * To rear ducks with advantage, and to establish ex- tensive colonies of thera, they must be placed «oniewhcrfi nftar water, and where there are spacious banks of saad and turf upon which to feed, repose, and to sport. reared J66 natural history reared of all our domestic animals. The very instinct of the young ones directs them to their favourite element; and though they are con- ducted by a hen^ yet they despise the adi^oni- tibns of their leader. This serves as an incontestible proof that all birds have their manners rather from nature than education. A falcon pursues the partridge^ not because it is taught by the old one, but because its appetites create their importunate call for animal food : the cuckoo follows a ver\^ different trade from that which its nurse endea- voured to teach it: animals of the duck kind also follow their appetites, not their tutor, and come to all their various perfections without any guide. All the arts possessed l^y man are the result of accumulated experience ; all the arts of inferior animals are self-taught, and scarcely one is acquired by imitation. It is usual to lay duck eg^s under a hen*, be- " cause * Mr. Qucrhoent mentions the following circumstance. A drake in his court-yard having lost its female, felt an ardour for the hens, and Mr. Querhoent saw him cover them two or three times: but those who had been thus impregnated OF BIRDSj FISH, &C. |67 cause she hatches them better than the original parent would have done. " The' duck seems *^ to be a heedless, inattentive mother; she '• frequently leaves her eggs till they spoils and '^' even seems to forget that she is entrusted *' with the. charge: she is equally regardless of *• them when excluded ; she leads them to the ''^ pond, and thinks she has sufficiently pro- *• vided for her offspring when she has shewn *^ them the water. Whatever advantages may '^ be procured by coming near the house^ or at- '^ tending in the yard_, she declines them all ; '• and often lets the vermin who haunt the *^ waters destroy them^ rather than take shelter " nearer home. The hen is a nurse of a very ^^ opposite character; she broods with the ut- '•' most assiduity, and generally brings forth a " young one from every egg committed to her " charge ; she does not lead them to the water " indeed, but she carefully guards tiiem when '' there by standing at the brink. Should the ^- rat' or the weazle attempt to seize them, the '' hcA instantly gives them protection; she leads •impregnnted conid not ]ay. and ii sort of Cssarlaii opcru- tiou was f(;rced to be.perfbrmed upon them to extract the e^'s;: but whether from want of cure, or from any fault u! t!:e fecnndaticn, these; eggs did not produce any th'.nan ten different sorts; and of the wild, Brisson reckon* above twenty. The .most obvious distinction between wild and tame ducks is in the colour of their feet; those of the tame duck being black, those of the wild duck yellow. The difference between wild ducks among each other arises as well from the size as the nature of the place they feed in. Sea-ducks, which feed in the salt water, and dive much, have 5 broad bill, bending upwards, a large hind toe, and a long blunt tail. Pond-ducks, which feed in plashes, have a straight and narrow bill, a small hind toe, and a sharp-pointed tail. The former are called, by our decoy-men, foreign ducks ; the latter are supposed to be na- tives of England. In this tribe, we may rank, as natives of Europe, the Eider Duck, which is double the size of a common duck, with a bUsk bill; the Velvet Duck, not so^ large, and OF IJIUDS, FISH, Sec. 169 and with a yellow bill ; the Scoter, with a knob at the base of a yellow bill ; the Tufted Duck, adorned with a thick crest ; the Scaup Duck, less than the common duck^ with the bill of a greyish blue colour; the Golden. Ej/e, with a large white spot at the corners of the mouth, resembling an eye ; the Sheldrake, with the bill of a bright red, and swelling into a knob ; the Mallard, which some have supposed to be the stock from whence our tame breed has probably been produced ; the Pintail, with the two middle feathers of the tail three inches longer than the rest; the Pochard, with the head and neck of a brioht bay; the Wid