74 Retrospective Criticism. 



prisingly." The mere motion of its legs, to propel its floating 

 body towards land, in order to escape from certain death on 

 an element where it was never intended by Nature to exist, 

 even for the space of one short hour, has been magnified by 

 Mr. Audubon into an important act of " swimming sur- 

 prisingly." 



If the admirers of Mr. Audubon should try to force us to 

 agree with their great naturalist, that partridges can " swim 

 surprisingly," then it behoves us to call upon them to declare 

 that every bird in the creation can swim. Our little tomtit, 

 till now" a land bird, must be proclaimed to swim surprisingly, 

 and have a place amongst the waterfowl ; because, on tumbling 

 accidentally into a washing-tub, he has " muscular power 

 sufficient to keep up a protracted struggle" till he reaches the 

 side. 



How delighted Ovid would have been, had he seen a par- 

 tridge swimming surprisingly, or a goatsucker flying off with 

 a mouthful of eggs ! We are told in ancient history that the 

 stomach of Mithridates was poison-proof: I wonder if his leg 

 also was poison-proof; so that he could have danced, without 

 danger of sudden death, in the fatal American boot mentioned 

 by Mr. Audubon in his wonderful story of the rattlesnake's 

 swallowing a squirrel tail foremost. — Charles Wateiton, 



The Wandering Albatross {Diomede2i exulans L.) (VI. 147.); 

 its size (VI. 372, 373.) — I have a stuffed specimen, which was 

 given me by your correspondent, " A Grenada Subscriber." 

 Its dimensions are ; — Length from the tip of the bill to the end 

 of the tail, 4 ft. 2 in. ; expansion of wings about 1 1 ft. 4 in. ; the 

 humerus measures 17 in. in length, the radius ISj^in., and the 

 pinion, with its quills, 27^ in. : the tail is very short, not 

 exceeding 4 in. — A Subscriber. Vale of Alford, Nov. 20. 1833. 



The Bird called " Booby'' by Sailors (VI. 373.) is the Pele- 

 canus Sula : it is often caught, while asleep, on the yards. 



The Noddy {Sterna stolida) is also frequently captured in 

 the same manner. I have seen both so taken. — Id, 



The Booby is not a Name^ even among Sailor s^ for the Alba- 

 tross. (VI. 373.) — J. D. has, I think, been misinformed as to 

 the application, by sailors, of the term " booby" " to any 

 long-winged bird of a whitish colour," and to the albatross as 

 one such. Although the ornithological terms of sailors are 

 probably usually applied indefinitely enough, it appears, from 

 Pennant's British Zoology^ that the solan goose, or gannet, is 

 the " booby." In a work called The Natural Historian the 

 characters of the booby are given technically and in detail, 

 but the scientific name is omitted. The albatross and the 

 penguin have both obtained, among our sailors, the name of 



