580 



A HISTORY OF 



a pleasure in its society. They are always 

 seen to choose the same places for breeding ; 

 some distant uninhabited island, where the 

 ground slants to the sea, as the penguin is not 

 iormed either for flying or climbing. In such 

 places their nests are seen together, as if they 

 stood in need of mutual assistance and pro- 

 tection. Captain Hunt, who for some time 

 commanded at our settlement upon Falkland 

 Islands, assures me, that he was often amazed 

 at the union preserved between these birds, 

 and the regularity with which they built to- 

 gether. In that bleak and desolate spot, where 

 the birds had long continued undisturbed pos- 

 sessors-, and no way dreaded the encroachment 

 of men, they seemed to make their abode as 

 comfortable as they expected it to be lasting. 



They were seen to build with an amazing 

 degree of uniformity ; their nests covering 

 fields by thousands, and resembling a regular 

 plantation. In the middle, on high, the alba- 

 tross raised its nest, on heath, sticks, and long 

 grass, about two feet above the surface: round 

 this the penguins made their lower settlements, 

 rather in holes in the ground, and most usual- 

 ly eight penguins to one albatross. Nothing 

 is a stronger proof of Mr. Buffon's fine obser- 

 vation, that the presence of nmn not only de- 

 stroys the society of meaner animals, but their 

 instincts also. These nests are now, I am 

 told, totally destroyed ; the society is broke 

 up ; and the albatross and penguin have gone 

 to breed upon more desert shores, in greater 

 security * 



CHAPTER CXXVI. 



THE CORMORANT. 



THE Cormorant is about the size of a 

 large Muscovy duck, and may be distinguish- 

 ed from all other birds of this kind, by its 

 four toes being united by membranes together; 

 and by the middle-toe being toothed or notch- 

 ed like a saw, to assist it in holding its fishy 

 prey. The head and neck of this bird are of 

 a sooty blackness ; and the body thick and 

 heavy, more inclining in figure to that of the 

 goose than the gull. The bill is straight, till 

 near the end, where the upper chap bends 

 into a hook. 



But notwithstanding the seeming heaviness 

 of its make, there are few birds more power- 

 fully predaceous. As soon as the winter ap* 

 proaches, they are seen dispersed along the 

 sea-shore, and ascending up the mouths of 

 fresh- water rivers, carrying destruction to all 

 the finny tribe. They are most remarkably 

 voracious, and have a most sudden digestion. 



a The Albatross, or man of war bird, bas a straight 

 bill, the upper mandible of which is crooked at the point, 

 and the lower one truncated : the nostrils are oval, wide, 

 prominent, and placed on each side the bill : the feet have 

 three toes, all placed forwards. In the West Indies these 

 birds are said to foretell the arrival of ships : which is fre- 

 quently true, and may arise from a very natural cause. 



Their appetite is for ever craving, and never 

 satisfied. This gnawing sensation may pro- 

 bably be increased by the great quantity of 

 small worms that fill their intestines, and 

 which their unceasing gluttony contributes to 

 engender. 



Thus formed with the grossest appetites, this 

 unclean bird has the most rank and disagree- 

 able smell, and is more foetid than even carri- 

 on, when in its most healthful state. Its form, 

 says an ingenious modern, is disagreeable; its 

 voice is hoarse and croaking; and all its 

 qualities obscene. No wonder then that Mil- 

 ton should make Satan personate this bird, 

 when he sent him upon the basest purposes, 

 to survey with pain the beauties of Paradise, 

 and to sit devising death on the tree of life. b 

 It has been remarked, however, of our poet, 

 that the making a water-fowl perch upon a 

 tree, implied no great acquaintance with the 



They always fish in fine weather ; so that, when the wind 

 is rough at sea, they retire into the harbours, where they 

 are protected by the land ; and the same wind that blows 

 them-in, brings likewise whatever vessels may be exposed 

 to its fury, to seek a retreat from it. 

 b Vide Pennant's Zoology, p. 477- 



