240 



URINATORES. DIVERS. 



Among the Palmipede, or trvily aquatic birds, are some, 

 "which feeding essentially on fishes obtained in the living 

 state, pursue their prey in its native element, into which they 

 dive for that purpose, not from on wing, but when scattered 

 on its surface, A more appropriate name than that of Urina- 

 torial or Diving birds, could not, I think, be applied to them. 

 Certain other birds, as the Mergansers, are equally divers, 

 and some of themselves feed occasionally on other substances 

 than fish ; but such indications of affinity between contermi- 

 nous groups present themselves in every department of organic 

 nature, and furnish no argument against the correctness of 

 the nomenclature proposed. The general characters of this 

 order may be expressed thus : — 



Birds especially adapted for diving and swimming both in 

 and on the water, and having the body of an elliptical, more 

 or less depressed form ; the neck strong, mostly of moderate 

 length, often elongated ; the head oblong, anteriorly com- 

 pre^sed. The bill is strong, tapering, compressed, pointed, 

 opening rather Avidely, and more or less dilatable at the base, 

 sharp-edged, without lamellse or denticulations. The tongue 

 slender, trigonal, and pointed ; the oesophagus wide, with 

 moderately thick parietes, and a large proventriculus, having 

 a broad belt of gastric glandules ; the stomach rather large, 

 roundish, with the muscular coat of moderate thickness ; the 

 epithelium rather thick and rugous ; the intestine long, and 

 rather wide, with coeca of moderate length ; the rectum ending 

 in a very large, globose, cloacal dilatation. The nostrils are 

 small, oblong, and basal ; the eyes rather small ; the aper- 

 ture of the ears very small. The legs generally very short, 

 and much compressed, are placed very far behind, in some 

 of them at the extremity of the body, so as to render a nearly 



