142 TIE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 
CHAP. 35 
SEA-BIRDS. 
Their vast Numbers. — Strand-Birds. — Artifices of the Sea-Lurk to protect its 
Young. — Migrations of the Strand-Birds. — The Sea-Birds in General. — The 
Anatidee. — The Eider Duck. —The Sheldrake. — The Loggerheaded Duck. — 
Auks and Penguins.— The Cormorant.—Its Use by the Chinese for Fish 
catching.—The Frigate Bird.—The Soland Goose.—The Gulls. —The Petrels.— 
The Albatross, — Bird-catching on St. Kilda. — The Guano of the Chincha 
Islands. 
CounTLEss are the birds of the wood and field, of the mountain 
and the plain; and yet it is doubtful whether they equal in 
number those of the fish-teeming seas. 
For every naked rock or surf-beaten cliff 
that rises over the immeasurable deserts 
of ocean, is the refuge of myriads of sea- 
birds; every coast, from the poles to the 
equator, is covered with their legions 
and far from land, their swarms hover 
over the solitudes of the deep. Many, 
unfit for swimming, seek their food along 
the shores; others rival the fishes in their 
own native element; and others, again, 
armed with indefatigable wings, pursue 
their prey upon the high seas. But, 
however different the mode of living and 
destination of the numerous tribes, families, 
genera, and species of the sea-birds may be, 
each of them is organised in the most 
perfect manner for the exigencies of its own peculiar sphere. 
Take, for instance, the Strand-birds, that live on the margin of 
ocean, and feast upon the molluscs and sea-worms, that inhabit 
Flamingo. 
