8 CHARACTERS OF THE ORDERS. 



cannot keep his place in the current, he stretches his large 

 Avings, and flies oiF to a distant spot, where several birds are 

 hovering over the waves, dipping at intervals, and emitting 

 their harsh screams, they being engaged with a shoal of 

 fish. Now, these three birds are good enough representations 

 of the three orders characterized above. 



The Cribratores, moreover, feed on vegetable sub- 

 stances, many on mollusca, Crustacea, and insects, and 

 some on fishes. They form a rude nest, generally on the 

 ground, and lay numerous eggs, which are light, or of some 

 light tint, and without spots. The young, covered with 

 stiffish down, are able to run, swim, and dive presently after 

 exclusion, and are carefully conducted by their mother, or 

 for a time fed by her. The males are larger and handsomer 

 than the females, which the young resemble in their first 

 plumage. These birds are more useful to man than the 

 other aquatic species, many of them affording savoury food ; 

 some feathers, quills, or down ; and several, which have been 

 domesticated, being of nearly as much service as the analo- 

 gous Gallinaceous or Rasorial Birds. 



The Urinatores, on the other hand, are essentially pis- 

 civorous, though several species feed on insects, reptiles, 

 Crustacea, and other small aquatic animals, and some on 

 mollusca. They nestle on the ground or on rocks ; but 

 some of them deposit their eggs in holes, or on the bare 

 shelves of cliffs, without any nest. Their eggs are generally 

 few, frequently a single egg of enormous size is all they 

 lay ; but nothing general can be said of their form or 

 colouring. The young, in many cases, remain for some time 

 in the place where they have been hatched. The males are 

 larger than the females. Nearly all the species are most 

 expert swimmers and divers, using their wings as well as 

 their feet for propelling themselves under water. The back- 

 ward position of their feet renders a very inclined or nearly 

 erect position on land necessary to them, and some of them 

 are quite incapable of walking efficiently. Some among 

 them are also incapable of flying ; but even those which have 

 very small wings make them the instruments of a rapid and 

 sustained fliorht. 



