One day a gentleman's servant went in to look at them, wearing, unfortunately for himself, a pair of red plush breeches, which immediately caught their attention, mistaking them, probably, for raw flesh, as they had been accustomed to be fed on raw liver and lights, resembling the plush, in some degree, in colour: the consequence was, they made such a furious charge, that the owner was obliged to come to his assistance with a stick, and even then could not keep them off without much difficulty. Their attack on dogs, cats, and poultry, if unprotected, was always fatal. They fought at once with their bills, wings, and claws, screaming frightfully all the time. They were on this account at last parted with, having killed a favourite pointer. The poor dog had incautiously strayed into the place where they were kept, when they immediately flew at him, and attacked him in front and rear: his loud howlings brought his master to his aid, but too late; they had got him down, and inflicted fatal wounds.

The chief difference between Cormorants and the Frigatebirds, so called from their keeping a sharp look-out on other birds, and robbing them of their fish, consists in the latter having forked tails like our Swallows: their spread of wing is also proportionably much larger, and they are altogether of a lighter and more elegant appearance. We know but little of them; indeed, our knowledge is limited to one species only, of which we have already spoken (see p. 77), when considering the buoyancy of birds and their power of floating in the air. We shall therefore proceed to the next genus, Gannets, or Boobies, as some of them are called by sailors, owing to the stupidity with which they suffer themselves to be attacked and robbed by men and birds.

The Common Gannet (Solan Goose) is the species to which we shall confine our remarks: well known as it must be to those who have sailed on either side of the Scottish coast, as well as several other shores of our island, it will be more familiar to many under the name of the Solan Goose. most of the other birds of this tribe, it is profusely supplied with air-cells and we refer our readers to the account already given (p. 53) of these peculiarities in its formation, merely

Like

adding, that from the facility of procuring specimens, a close examination of this species is recommended to those naturalists who wish to acquire more information on the internal economy of air-inflated birds.

In our account of the dismal tempests that so often prove fatal to the starving Cormorants, we might have added, that in the way of the Gannet they throw no impediment; buoyant as a bladder, no sea can overwhelm him; there he floats, if so it pleases him, lighter than a cork, on the summit of the most angry waves, without let or hindrance. On their airy, spreading pinions too, they can, in case of disappointment in one place, transport themselves, in an incredibly short time, to another. The inhabitants of St. Kilda assert, that they occasionally go a hundred miles or more for the purpose of fishing --a fact, they say, proved by finding in their nests, hooks of English manufacture, sticking in fish bones.*

Their nests are usually placed on the ledges of apparently inaccessible rocks, in which two eggs only are, for the most part, laid; but breeding as they do, on so many of the desolate rocks of the northern shores, the number produced is incredible, and in many parts becomes a source of considerable profit to those who catch them. Thus, Mr. Landt, in his account of some islands near the Faröes, says, "The old ones are caught in the middle of April, when they have built their nests, but before they have laid their eggs. The peasants steal upon them in the night-time, or when it is dark, in the places where they sit and sleep, and seize them by griping them in a peculiar manner, which prevents them from emitting any cry; for if they are suffered to make a noise, all the rest would awaken and take themselves to flight. In the course of a season, those who are successful will catch, of old and young ones, about four hundred brace."

As we shall have occasion to speak of the Gannet again, in giving a general account of the modes of catching the various sea-birds that are found upon our shores, we shall, for the present, take our leave of it, as well as of the two last divisions of this Table, the Phaetons or Tropic-birds (see p. 77), and

* MARTIN'S Kilda.

Anhingas, or Darters, both comparatively little known, and inhabitants of remote regions, the former, from its name, being found almost invariably within the tropics, and generally at great distances from land; the Anhinga being confined to the savannahs, marshes, and rivers of the hottest parts of the African and American continents.

The long thin neck and beak, the slim body, and large webbed feet of the Anhinga bespeak at once its real character as an excellent diver, which it certainly is, for on the slightest appearance of danger, it will disappear in an instant, rising again at the distance of many hundred yards, and then only showing its narrow head just above the surface of the water. It is said that when several are surprised perching, according to their practice, on a branch stretching over a river, they will all drop down together as if dead, and then dive away beyond pursuit.

CHAPTER XIX.

Longipennes, Long-winged.-Skimmers.—Singular Bill.-Terns, or SeaSwallows. Anecdote of.-Gulls.-Capacity for enduring Cold.-Voracious Feeders.-Breeding Places.-South Stack described. —Albatross. -Roaming Habits. -Tristan D'Acunha. -Resort for Breeding.-Voracity. Petrels. Nests. - Feed at Night.-Superstition of Sailors respecting.-Brevipennes, Short-winged.-Divers.-Crested Glebe.Great Destroyers of Fish.-Guillemots.-Razor-bills.-Puffins and Auks.

TABLE XXIX. (See page 23.)

2.

ORDER 6. PALMIPEDES.-TRIBE 3. LONGIPENNES (Long-winged). THIS tribe comprises: 1. Rhynchops, or Skimmers ; Sterna, Terns; 3. Larus, Gulls; 4. Diomedea, Albatross; 5. Procellaria, Petrels.

All these are long-winged birds, proper to the main ocean, and, by means of their powers of flight, are spread widely over the world. They may be known by either having no back-toe at all, or by that toe being free-that is, not united with the others by a membrane, forming one large web, as in the preceding tribe; and by their bill, without indentations, but bent at the end, as in the Procellaria, or Petrels, the extremity of which seems to consist of a piece fastened on, or pointed, as in all the rest.

The Skimmer derives its name from the way in which it feeds, flying generally so close to the water, that the under mandible just skims below the surface, while the upper is kept wide open, so that on its meeting with any floating substance, it closes immediately upon it. It is a bird with little feet, long wings, and a forked tail; but its bill is so extraordinary, that there is no mistaking it for the Sea-Swallow's, which in other respects it closely resembles; the lower mandible is the shortest, and the other shuts upon it like the two blades of a pair of scissors.

Terns, or Sea-Swallows, have very long and very pointed wings, with forked tails and short feet, in which they resemble Swallows; but their mode of flight is very different, not having that darting rapid course, but a sort of graceful gliding motion-sometimes high in the air, then falling as if they had lost their balance. Though perfectly web-footed, they never swim, but take their food, consisting of small fishes or insects, by descending to the water, and gently touching the surface with their beaks.

We have twelve species in this country, either regular

migrants or occasional visitors. Those which breed here generally lay three or four eggs, without any nest, preferring a low shingly shore, on which, we believe, the bird sits in the usual manner; but as it has been ascertained that an American species deposits her eggs in a similar situation, and leaves them to be hatched principally by the heat of the sun-the parent bird only sitting upon them during the night-it would be worth an observer's while to look after our Terns, and see how far they resemble their American connections.

They are very tame; and we have approached one of our British species, the common Tern, as it rested on a patch of mud, a boat's buoy, or a piece of floating wood, till we might have almost knocked it down with a stick. They appear,