350 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



fifteen or twenty pair within the compass of half an acre. The 

 females sit on them only during the night, or in wet and stormy wea- 

 ther. 



The singular conformation of the bill of this bird has excited much 

 surprise ; and some writers, measuring the divine proportions of 

 nature by their own contracted standards of conception, in the pleni- 

 tude of their vanity have pronounced it to be "a lame and defective 

 weapon." Such ignorant presumption, or rather impiety, ought to 

 hide its head in the dust on a calm display of the peculiar construc- 

 tion of this singular bird, and the wisdom by which it is so admirably 

 adapted to the purposes or mode of existence for which it was in- 

 tended. The Sheerwater is formed for skimming, while on wing, 

 the surface of the water for its food, which consists of small fish, 

 shrimps, young fry, &c. whose usual haunts are near the shore, and 

 towards the surface. That the lower mandible,* when dipt into and 

 cleaving the water, might not retard the bird's way, it is thinned and 

 sharpened like the blade of a knife ; the upper mandible being at such 

 times elevated above water, is curtailed in its length, as being less 

 necessary, but tapering gradually to a point, that, in shutting, it 

 may offer less opposition. To prevent inconvenience from the rush- 

 ing of the water, the mouth is confined to the mere opening of the 

 gullet, which indeed prevents mastication taking place there ; but 

 the stomach or gizzard, to which this business is solely allotted, is 

 of uncommon hardness, strength and muscularity, far surpassing in 

 these respects that of any other water bird with which we are ac- 

 quainted. To all these is added a vast expansion of wing, to enable 

 the bird to sail with sufficient celerity Avhile dipping in the water. 

 The general proportion of the length of our swiftest Hawks and 

 Swallows, to their breadth, is as one to two ; but in the present case, 

 as there is not only the resistance of the air to overcome, but also that 

 of the water, a still greater volume of wing is given : the Sheerwater 

 measuring nineteen inches in length, and upwards of fourty-four in 

 breadth. In short, whoever has attentively examined this curious 

 apparatus, and observed the possessor with his ample wings, long 

 "bending neck, and lower mandible occasionally dipt into and plough- 

 ing the surface, and the facility with which he procures his food, can- 

 not but consider this exercise mere playful amusement when com- 

 pared with the dashing immersions of the Tern, the Gull, or the 

 Fish Hawk, who, to the superficial observer, appear so superiorly 

 accommodated. 



Goosander. This large and handsomely marked bird belongs to a 

 genus different from that of the Duck, on account of the particular 

 form and serratures of the bill, Naturalists have denominated it 

 Merganser. In this country, the birds composing this genus are 

 generally known by the name of Fishermen, or Fisher Ducks. The 

 Goosander is called by many the Sheldrake. This bird is a winter 

 inhabitant of our coast and rivers. They usuually associate in small 

 parties of six or eight, and are almost continually diving in search of 

 food. From their common habit of feeding almost entirely on fin 

 and shell-fish, their flesh is held in little estimation, both smelling 

 and tasting strongly of fish. Four species of the genus Mergus are 

 known to inhabit the United States, of which the Goosander is the 



* The bill of a bird is composed of two parts, termed mandibles. 



