494 WEB-POOTED BIRDS. 



body ; they are unable to rise on wing from the even ground, and 

 hence they alight on elevated cliffs and projections, Caught sud- 

 denly in a situation from which they cannot rise, they consequently 

 fall an easy and perhaps unresisting prey to their enemies, and may 

 thus be hastily considered as stupid and cowardly. They fish by 

 hovering over their prey with still and expanded wings, and descend- 

 ing seize them as they approach the surface of the waves. They 

 remain so gregarious in the breeding season, that their nests touch 

 each other, laying their eggs, mostly 1 and sometimes 2, on the 

 rocks, beeches, or high ground surrounded by the sea. The young 

 are for a long time covered with very soft and white down. 



Some of the species are spread over all the warm and temperate 

 regions of the earth ; others migrate to the north to pass the sum- 

 mer. The races are extremely few : there are two species in the 

 United States. 



