260 Tue Brrps ApsouTt Us. 
“‘ Here is in this river, and in the waters all over Florida, a very 
curious and handsome bird, the people call them Snake-birds; I 
think I have seen paintings of them on the Chinese screens, and 
other Indian pictures; they seem to be a species of Colymbdus, but far 
more beautiful and delicately formed than any other that I have ever 
. seen. They delight to sit in little peaceable communities, on the dry 
limbs of trees, hanging over the still waters, with their wings and tails 
expanded, I suppose to cool and air themselves, when at the same time 
they behold their images in the watery mirror. At such times, when 
we approach them, they drop off the limbs into the water as if dead, 
and fora minute or two are not to be seen ; when on asudden, at a great 
distance, their long slender head and neck appear, like a snake rising 
erect out of the water; and no other part of them is to be seen when 
swimming, except sometimes the tip end of their tail. In the heat 
of the day they are seen in great numbers, sailing very high in the 
air, over lakes and rivers.” 
Under the general name of Petrel, which is a 
familiar one to all, are included a large number of 
birds, of which about twenty-five are found on the 
coasts of this continent. They are subdivided by 
reason of certain anatomical features into Fulmars, 
Shearwaters, and Petrels. 
Of the Giant Fulmar, which occasionally reaches 
on the Pacific coast as far north as Oregon, Moseley 
states, based on observations made in the South At- 
lantic,— 
« Whilst we were at work on the beach crowds of birds began to 
assemble, especially the Giant Petrel, or ‘ Breakbones,’ the ‘ Nelly,’ 
or ‘Stinker,’ of sealers. This bird in its habits is most remarkably 
like the vulture. 
“Tt soars all day along the coast on the lookout for food. No 
sooner is an animal killed than numbers appear as if by magic, and 
the birds are evidently well acquainted with the usual proceedings 
of sealers, who kill the sea-elephant, take off the skin and blubber, 
and leave the carcass. They settled down here all round in groups, 
