358 HISTORY OF 



in the moist element where they reside. Their 

 skin is generally lined with fat ; so that, with the 

 warmth of the feathers externally, and this na- 

 tural lining more internally, they are better de- 

 fended against the changes or the inclemencies 

 of the weather than any other class whatever. 



As among land birds there are some found 

 fitted entirely for depredation, and others for a 

 harmless method of subsisting upon vegetables, 

 so also among these birds there are tribes of plun- 

 derers, that prey not only upon fish, but some- 

 times upon water fowl themselves. There are 

 likewise more inoffensive tribes, that live upon 

 insects and vegetables only. Some water fowls 

 subsist by making sudden stoops from above, to 

 seize whatever fish comes near the surface ; others 

 again, not furnished with wings long enough to 

 fit them for flight, take their prey by diving after 

 it to the bottom. 



From hence all water fowl naturally fall into 

 three distinctions. Those of the gull kind, that, 

 with long legs and round bills, fly along the sur- 

 face to seize their prey : those of the penguin 

 kind, that, with round bills, legs hid in the abdo- 

 men, and short wings, dive after their prey ; and 

 thirdly, those of the goose kind, with flat broad 

 bills, that lead harmless lives, and chiefly subsist 

 upon insects and vegetables. 



These are not speculative distinctions, made 

 up for the arrangement of a system, but they 

 are strongly and evidently marked by nature. 

 The gull kind are active and rapacious, con- 

 stantly, except when they breed, keeping upon 



