WATER-FOWL. 



587 



also usual, where there are not folks enough 

 to hold the great rope, for the fowler to drive 

 a post sloping into the earth, and to make a 

 rope fast therefore, by which he lets himself 

 down without any body's help, to work in the 

 manner aforesaid. Some rocks are so form- 

 ed that the person can go into their cavities 

 by land. 



" These manners are more terrible and 

 dangerous to see than to describe ; especial- 

 ly if one considers the steepness and height 

 of the rocks, it seeming impossible for a man 

 to approach them, much less to climb or de- 

 scend. In some places, the fowlers are seen 

 climbing where they can only fasten the ends 

 of their toes and fingers ; not shunning such 

 places, though there be a hundred fathom 

 between them and the sea. It is a dear meat 

 for these poor people, for which they must 

 venture their lives ; and many, after long ven- 

 turing, do at last perish therein. 



" When the fowl is brought home, a part 



thereof is eaten fresh ; another part, when 

 there is much taken, being hung up for win- 

 ter provision. The feathers are gathered to 

 make merchandise of, for other expenses. 

 The inhabitants get a great many of these 

 fowls, as God giveth his blessing and fit wea> 

 ther. When it is dark and hazy, they take 

 most ; for then the birds stay in the rocks : 

 but in clear weather, and hot sun-shine, they 

 seek the sea. When they prepare to depart 

 for the season, they keep themselves most 

 there, sitting on the cliffs towards the sea- 

 side, where people get at them sometimes 

 with boats, and take them with fowling-staves." 

 Such is the account of this historian ; but 

 we are not to suppose that all the birds 

 caught in this manner are of the gull-kind : 

 on the contrary, numbers of them are of the 

 penguin kind ; auks, puffins, and guillemots. 

 These all come, once a season, to breed in 

 these recesses ; and retire in winter to fish in 

 more southern climates. 



CHAPTER CXXIX. 



OF THE PENGUIN KIND: AND FIRST, OF THE GREAT MAGELLANIC PENGUIN. 



THE gulls are long-winged, swift flyers, 

 that hover over the most extensive seas, and 

 dart down upon such fish as approach too 

 near the surface. The penguin kind are but 

 ill fitted for flight, and still less for walking. 

 Every body must have seen the awkward 

 manner in which a duck, either wild or tame, 

 attempts to change place : they must recol- 

 lect with what softness and ease a gull or a 

 kite waves its pinions, and with what a coil 

 and flutter the duck attempts to move them; 

 how many strokes it is obliged to give, in 

 order to gather a little air; and even when 

 it is thus raised, how soon it is fatigued with 

 the force of its exertions, and obliged to take 

 rest again. But the duck is not, in its natu- 

 ral state, half so unwieldy an animal as the 

 whole tribe of the penguin kind. Their 

 wings are much shorter, more scantily fur- 

 nished with quills, and the whole pinion 

 placed too forward to be usefully employed 



HO. 49 & 20. 



For this reason, the largest of the penguin 

 kind, that have a thick heavy body to raise, 

 cannot fly at all. Their wings serve them 

 rather as paddles to help them forward, when 

 they attempt to move swiftly, and in a man- 

 ner walk along the surface of the water. 

 Even the smallest kinds seldom fly by choice; 

 they flutter their wings with the swiftest 

 efforts without making way ; and though they 

 have but a small weight of body to sustain, 

 yet they seldom venture to quit the water, 

 where they are provided with food and pro- 

 tection. 



As the wings of the penguin tribe are un- 

 fitted for flight, their legs are still more awk- 

 wardly adapted for walking. This whole 

 tribe have all above the knee hid within the 

 belly : and nothing appears but two short 

 legs, or feet, as some would call them, that 

 seem stuck under the rump, and upon which 

 the animal is very awkwardly supported. 



4P 



