222 



HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



pared for migration when all the rest depart, 

 are left at land to shift for themselves. In 

 A ugust the whole tribe is seen to take leave 

 of their summer residence; nor are they ob- 

 served any more till the return of the ensuing 

 spring. It is probable that they sail away to 

 more southern regions, as our mariners fre- 

 quently see myriads of water-fowl upon their 

 return, and steering usually to the north. 

 Indeed the coldest countries seem to be their 

 most favoured retreats ; and the number of 

 water-fowl is much greater in those colder 

 climates than in the warmer regions near the 

 line. The quantity of oil which abounds in 

 their bodies, serves as a defence against cold, 

 and preserves them in vigour against its 

 severity; but the same provision of oil is 

 rather detrimental in warm countries, as it 

 turns rancid, and many of them die of dis- 

 orders which arise from its putrefaction. In 

 general, however, water-fowl can be properly 

 said to be of no climate ; the element upon 

 which they live being their proper residence. 

 They necessarily spend a few months of 

 summer upon land, to bring up their young; 

 but the rest of their time is probably consumed 

 in their migrations, or near some unknown 

 coasts, where their provision of fish is found 

 in greatest abundance. 



Before I go to the third general division 

 of water-fowls, it may not be improper to 

 observe, that there is one species of round- 

 billed water- fowl that does not properly lie 

 within any of the former distributions. This 

 is the Gooseander ;* a bird with the body and 



1 This is the largest of the Auk kind, weighing about 

 four pounds. It seldom makes its appearance in the 



more southern districts of the country, except in winters 

 attended by long continued frost ; but in the northern 

 parts of Scotland, and in the Orkneys and other Scottish 

 islands, it is a permanent resident ; finding subsistence 

 throughout the year either in the fresh-water lakes of 

 the interior, or (when these are frozen) in the deep in- 

 dentations of the coast, formed by the saline lochs, so 

 numerous in that part of the kingdom. It is widely 

 distributed throughout the arctic regions of both the 

 ancient and new worlds. In Europe, during its equa- 

 torial migration, it visits France, Holland, Germany, 

 and even more southern countries; and Wilson men- 

 tions it as a well known winter visitant upon the coasts, 

 lakes, and rivers of the United States. During the 

 summer the great body of these birds retires to high 

 latitudes, for tire purpose of reproduction; and at that 

 time they are found in Iceland, Greenland, and other 

 northern parts of Europe. In Asia, they visit Siberia, 



wings shaped like those of the penguin kind, 

 but with legs not hid in the belly. It may 

 be distinguished from all others by its bill, 

 which is round, hooked at the point, and 

 toothed, both upper and under chap, like a 

 saw. Its colours are various and beautiful; 

 however, its manners and appetites entirely 

 resemble those of the diver. It feeds upon 

 fish, for which it dives ; and is said to build 

 its nest upon trees, like the heron and the 

 cormorant. It seems to form the shade be- 

 tween the penguin and the goose kind ; hav- 

 ing a round bill like the one ; and unem- 

 barrassed legs, like the other. In the shape 

 of the head, neck, and body, it resembles them 

 both. 



CHAP. IX. 



OF BIRDS OF THE GOOSE KIND, PROPERLY 

 SO CALLED. 



THE Swan, the Goose, and the Duck, are 

 leaders of a numerous, useful, and beautiful 

 tribe of birds, that we have reclaimed from a 

 state of nature, and have taught to live in 

 dependence about us. To describe any of 

 these, would be as superfluous as definitions 

 usually are when given of things with which 

 we are already well acquainted. There are 



Kamtschatka, &c., and in America, during the above 

 period, they are distributed through the fur countries of 

 that vast continent. The nest is constructed (near to 

 the edge of the water) of a mass of grass, roots, and 

 other materials, mixed and lined with down. It is 

 placed sometimes among stones or other debris, and 

 sometimes in the long grass, or under the cover of 

 bushes, and (when the locality affords them) in the 

 stumps or hollows of decayed trees. The eggs are from 

 twelve to fourteen in number, of a cream-yellow colour ; 

 and their form is a long oval, both ends being equally 

 obtuse. 



The gooseander, except when on wing, is almost 

 always seen upon the water, being unable to make any 

 great progress on land, in consequence of the backward 

 position of the legs, and the slight degree of freedom 

 that the tibiae possess from their situation within the 

 integuments of the abdomen. Its activity, however, in 

 the former element, makes ample amends for this 

 deficiency. In swimming, the body, from its broad 

 and flattened shape, is deeply sunk in the water, having 

 the head, neck, and back only visible. It is an excel, 

 lent diver, with the power of remaining for a long time 

 submerged, and making its way with great rapidity 

 beneath the surface. In this manner its food is ob- 

 tained, consisting entirely of fish; and which, when 

 once seized, are securely held in its serrated bill. It 

 rises with difficulty, or at least with much apparent 

 exertion, from the surface of the water, but when once 

 fairly on wing, its flight is not only swift, but can be 

 sustained for a considerable time. By earlier writers, 

 the females and young males (which resemble that sex 

 for upwards of a year) were considered and described as 

 a distinct species. 



