394] 
but probably for*the increase of 
their motion under water, by the 
use of four oars instead of two; 
yet were the wings and fect nearer 
together, as in land birds, they 
would, wben in action, rather bin- 
der than assist one another. 
This Colymbus was of conside- 
rable bulk, weighing only thrce 
drachms short of three pounds a- 
voirdupoise. It measured in length 
from the bill to the tail (which 
was very short), two feet; and to 
thé extremities of the toes four 
inches more; and the breadth of 
the wings expanded was 42 inches. 
A person attempted to eat the 
body, but found it very strong and 
rancid, as is the flesh of all birds 
living on fish. Divers or loons, 
though bred in the most northerly 
| parts of Europe, yet are seen with us 
in very severe winters ; and on the 
Thames are called sprat loons, be- 
cause they prey much on that sort of 
fish. 
The legs of the Colymbi and 
Mergi are placed so very back- 
ward, and so out of all cenire of 
gravity, that these birds cannot 
walk at all. They arecailed by Lin- 
nzus compedes, because they move 
on the ground as if shackled, or 
fettered, 
Contrasts and Canscnancies betaween 
Animals andthe Earth. From Dr. 
Hunter’ s Translation of St. Pierre’s 
- Studies of Nature. 
THERE is seen, on the shores 
of India, a large and beavtiful 
bird, white, and fire-coloured, cal!- 
ed the flamingo, not that it is of 
Flemish extraction, but the name 
is derived from the old French 
* History of the Antilles, 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1706. 
word flambant (flaming), because 
it appears, at a distance, like a 
flame of fire. He generally inha- 
bits in swainpy grounds, and salt 
marshes, in the waters of which 
he construcis his nest, by raising 
out of she moisture, of a foot deep, 
a little hillock of mud, a foot and 
a half high. He makes a hole in 
the summit of this little hillock; 
in this the hen deposits two eggs 
and hatches them, with her feet 
sunk in the water, by means of the 
extreme length of her legs. When 
several of these birds are sitting at 
the same tiie on their eggs, in 
the midst of a swamp, you would 
take them, at a distance, for the 
flames of a conflagration, bursting 
from the bosom of the waters, 
Other fow!s present contrasts of 
a different kind on the same shores. 
The pelican, or wide throat, isa 
bird white and brown, provided 
with a Jarge bag under its beak, 
which is of excessive length. Out 
he goes every morning to store his 
bay with fish: aod, the supply of 
the day having been accomplished, 
he perches on some pointed rocks 
ona level with the water, where 
he stands immoveuble till theeven- 
ing, says father Du Tertre*, ‘* as 
in a state of profound sorrow, with 
the head drooping, from the weight 
of his long bili, end eyes fixed on» 
the agitated ocean, as motionless 
as a statue of marble.’’? © On the - 
dusky strand of those seas may fre- 
quently be distinguished herons 
white as snow, and in the azure 
plains of the sky, the paillencu of a 
very white, skimming through it 
almost ovt of sight; he: is some- 
times glazed over with a bright 
red, having likewise the two long 
‘ 
feathers 
