2G0 



AVES. 



flank. These ornaments fall in a few weeks, and are but imperfectly developed in younger individuals, and 

 seldom except in a state of perfect liberty. In some parts of Europe, this species builds upon house-tops, and not 

 unfrequently on trees : but on the British coast, they mostly resort to precipitous rocks or islets, generally in 

 society. From their croaking voice, dark colour, and appearance on the wing, they are often termed Sea Crows. 

 They can climb with considerable facility, aided by the beak and rigid tail-feathers. Occasionally they fly to inland 

 waters and fish-preserves, where they are notoriously destructive, and are observed to evince a marked preference 

 for Eels. 



The other species, or Crested Cormorant, (Phal. cristatus, Olass), is smaller, and less robust, with only twelve tail- 

 feathers ; its glosses incline more to green, and the adults have an elegant recurved crest during the breeding 

 season. This bird is commoner towards the north, while the preceding is more numerous southward : neverthe- 

 less, the Bronzed Cormorant appears to occur in both continents, whereas the Crested is represented in North 

 America by a different one (Ph. dilophns), both of these extending to high latitudes, though respectively peculiar 

 to the Old and New World, so far as has yet been observed. 



A third European species is the Black Cormorant (Pel. graeidus, Gin.); a diminutive of the first, but possessing 

 only twelve tail-feathers, like the preceding, with which it has been confounded until very recently, by British 

 naturalists. It inhabits to the southward of the British Isles, in which it has not hitherto been met with.j 



The Tachypetes {Tachypetes, Vieillot) — 

 Differ from the Cormorants by a forked tail, short feet, the membranes of which are very deeply notched, 

 an excessive spread of wing, and a beak both mandibles of which are curved at the tip. Their wings 

 are so powerful that they fly at an immense distance from all land, and principally between the tropics, 

 darting upon the Flying-fish, and striking the Gannets to make them disgorge their prey. 



One only is known (Pel. aquilus, Lin.), the plumage of which is [richly empurpled] black, the under-part of the 

 throat more or less varied with white, and the beak red. Its extent of wing is reported to be sometimes ten or 

 even twelve feet. [This is the noted Frigate-bird, or Man-of- War-bird, of the English sailors, which is surpassed 

 in command of wing by none of the class, if equalled by any. It breeds on trees on uninhabited islands, and 

 lays a single spherical white egg.] 



The Gannets (Sula, Brisson ; Dysporus, Illiger) — 

 Have a straight beak, slightly compressed and pointed, with the tip a little arcuated, and its edges serrated, 

 the denticulations [which are more developed in the Cormorants] directed backwards : the [im- 

 pervious] nostrils are prolonged in a line nearly to the tip : the throat is naked, as is also the skin of 

 the eyes; the former hut slightly extensible : inner edge of the middle claw serrated. The wings are 

 less extended than in the Tachypetes, and the tail is a little cuneated. These birds are called Boobies, on 

 account of the stupidity with which they [certain species of them] allow themselves to he attacked by 

 men and birds, more particularly the Tachypetes, which, as already stated, force them to yield up the 

 prey they have captured. 



The most common is the European Gannet (Pel. bassanus, Lin.). — White, with black feet and wing primaries, 

 the bill greenish, and nearly equal in size to a Goose. [A common species in the British seas, which breeds in 

 vast numbers upon the Bass rock in the Frith of Forth, and one or two other similar localities : the young are at 

 first covered with the blackish down common to the group, in which they contrast remarkably with their white 

 parents; their first plumage is dark above, beautifully speckled with white, these terminal specks gradually 

 wearing off. The Gannets take their prey by plunging upon it from on high, and sail with an easy flight, with 

 little motion of the wings. Their air cavities are extraordinarily developed ; the ambient medium permeating all 

 their bones with the exception of the phalanges of the toes, and passing under the skin of the breast, which is 

 only attached to the muscles by a number of scattered connecting pillars ; a structure which is also met with in 

 the Phaetons.] 



The Anhingas {Plotus, Lin.) — 

 With the body and feet nearly like those of a Cormorant, have a very long neck, and a slender, straight, 

 and pointed bill, with denticulated edges ; the eyes and nudity of the face as in the Pelicans, of which 

 they have likewise the habits, nestling, like those birds, upon trees. [They may be described as Cor- 

 morants, with the bill and neck of a Heron. 



Two or three species are found, in both continents ; the body inferior in size to that of a common Duck.] 



The Phaetons {Phaeton, Lin.) — 

 Are known by their two very long and slender tail-feathers, which, at a distance, resemble a straw. 

 Their head has no naked part. The beak is straight, pointed, denticulated, and moderately stout, 

 [with pervious nostrils at all ages] : their feet are short, and their wings long. Accordingly, they fly 

 very far from land, on the high seas ; and as they rarely quit the boundaries of the torrid zone, their 

 appearance serves to indicate to mariners the vicinity of the tropic, [whence their common name of 



