ON BIRDS. 351 



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, because they prey much on that sort of 

 fish. 



The legs of the colymbi and mergi are placed so 

 very backward, and so out of all centre of gravity, 

 that these birds cannot walk at all. They are called 

 by Linnaeus compedes, because they move on the 

 ground as if shackled or fettered. WHITE. 



These accurate and ingenious observations, tend- 

 ing to set forth in a proper light the wonderful works 

 of God in the creation, and to point out his wisdom 

 in adapting the singular form and position of the 

 limbs of this bird to the particular mode in which it 

 is destined to pass the greatest part of its life, in an 

 element much denser than the air, do Mr. White 

 credit, not only as a naturalist, but as a man and as 

 a philosopher, in the truest sense of the word, in my 

 opinion ; for, were we enabled to trace the works of 

 Nature minutely and accurately, we should find, not 

 only that every bird, but every creature, is equally 

 well adapted to the purpose for which it was intended ; 

 though this fitness and propriety of form is more 

 striking in such animals as are destined to any un- 

 common mode of life. 



I have had in my possession two birds, which, 

 though of a different genus, bear a great resemblance 

 to Mr. White's colymbus, in their manner of life, 

 which is spent chiefly in the water, where they swim 

 and dive with astonishing rapidity ; for which pur- 

 pose, their fin-toed feet, placed far behind, and very 

 short wings, are particularly well adapted, and show 



