INTRODUCTION. 25 
their wings and very well-webbed feet, outswim the fishes they 
pursue beneath the surface of the water. But skilful as they 
are, the more marine of our two forms, the Shag, is apt to be 
drowned by diving through a hole in the ice and not being able 
to find again its place of entrance, a task successfully performed 
by the Cormorant, which is habituated to fresh water. One 
species of Cormorant has been domesticated by Chinamen, who 
make use of it to catch fish while secured by a cord and collar. 
But the organization of the set of Birds with which we are now 
occupied finds its highest expression in the Darters. These are, 
























The Puflin (Fratercula arctica), 
as it were, Cormorants with long necks, very curiously jointed, 
and with straightened and sharpened bills. 
Four species of the genus are distributed over America, 
South-eastern Asia, Africa, and Australia. These are none 
of them Sea Birds. They inhabit swamps and rivers, where 
they pursue fish with extraordinary agility, spearing them 
through with their sharp beak before seizing them in the 
mouth, as may often be seen with the American species (Plotus 
anhinga, fig. 24) in our Zoological Gardens. A curious bend or 
seeming lump in the neck is conspicuous, and indicates the spot 
where the neck-bones are modified in a most remarkable manner, 
to facilitate the unerring projection of the bill—like a spear- 
head—against the body of the fish the bird desires to transfix. 
In the Gannet or Booby, also called the Solan Goose (Sula 
