359 



CHAP. XXVI. 



YEKTEBKATA MARITIME BIRDS. 



Swimming and Wading Birds. The Curlew. The Sandpiper. 

 Divers. Grebes. The Grannet: its remarkable Structure. 



AMONG the most interesting objects which pre- 

 sent themselves to our notice during a ramble 

 along the sea-side are those birds of which our 

 shores are either the occasional or permanent 

 abode. Many of the feathered tribes belonging 

 to the inland country may be found inhabiting 

 the woods, the groves, or the fields near the coast, 

 but to any of these it is not our intention to 

 refer ; our object is to point out a few of those 

 which are characteristic of the sea-shore. A few 

 general remarks will, however, be necessary in 

 the first instance. 



Birds form one of the four great classes into 

 which all the vertebrated animals have been sub- 

 divided. They possess a higher rank as regards 

 organisation than either fishes or reptiles, and 

 like the mammalia, they breathe by means of 

 lungs and are warm-blooded. Naturalists have 

 divided the class into several orders, each order 

 comprehending birds possessed of some general 

 characteristic sufficient to distinguish them from 



A A 4 



