94 



CLASS AVES. 



ORDER P A L M I P E D A. 



side of the body a black patch inclines' towards the middle of the chest ; 

 beak black spotted with white ; legs long and lead-coloured. Found in the 

 Falkland Isles. 



PACHYPTILA. The species illustrated is the Broad-billed Prim (P. Vit- 

 tata), which is about the size of a small Pigeon, and thirteen inches in 

 length ; the upper part of the body ashy-blue, and becoming deeper on the 

 head and wings, through the latter of which, and across the back near the 

 base of the tail, passes one blackish band, and across the top of the tail 

 another ; the sides of the head and the under part of the body and wings 

 white ; the middle quills of the tail are rather longer than the outer, and 

 give it a rounded appearance ; beak and eyes leaden-blue ; the middle of 

 the upper mandible and the nasal tubes blackish ; the legs black. These 

 birds were seen by Captain Cook in the South Seas between 28 and 30 

 of latitude ; numerous flocks of them followed him from the Cape of Good 

 Hope to 41, then to 51, and at last as high as 58; and in this high 

 latitude they have also been noted by the French naturalists Lesson and 

 Gamot. 



DIOMEDEA Albatross. The birds composing this genus are the largest 

 of all the water birds ; they inhabit all the South and North Seas, and live 

 upon the spawn of fish and mollusca. 



The Wandering Albatross (D. Exulans) is larger than a Swan, being 

 about three or four feet in length ; its bill of a dirty yellow ; crown of the 

 head pale cinereous brown ; body white, crossed on the back and wings 

 with blackish lines and spots towards the tail, which is lead-colour ; greater 

 quills black ; legs flesh-colour. The bud is known amongst the English 

 sailors by the name of Frigate Bird, and by the French as the Mouton du 

 Cap, on account of its white body and black wings. It makes its nest on 

 high ground, and lays many eggs, which are considered good eating. The 

 Albatross is very common without the Tropics, and is found not only 

 towards the South Pole, but even as high as Kamtschatka and Behring's 

 Straits, northward; it is also found about the Cape of Good Hope. 



LARUS GuU. The Gulls are spread very generally over the globe, but 

 are most numerous in the northern regions, and generally on the sea-shore ; 

 some species, however, are found on the inland lakes and the banks of 

 rivers. They commonly feed on fish, dead or alive, carrion, and offal ; and 

 in the north a large part of their food is derived from dead Whales and 

 other cetaceous animals, but some few species feed principally on insects. 

 They are exceedingly voracious, a natural consequence of their being often 

 exposed to long-continued privation, which they endure well, a proof of 

 which occurred in one who lived nine days without food ; and if one of them 

 finds any food, he is beset by his fellows, who drive him about and tease 

 him with loud screams till he drops it. In appearance they are dull, heavy 

 birds, and their gait is so also ; but their close plumage renders them ex- 

 tremely good swimmers, and in rough weather they may often be noticed 

 tossing on the waves, upon which they frequently repose : they are conti- 

 nually flying about, and are often met with at considerable distance from 

 land, and it is considered that their buoyancy enables them to rest as they 

 float on the surface of the sea. They frequent the months of rivers in winter- 

 time, and when, as occasionally, they go far inland, it is esteemed a sign of 

 hard weather. They are gregarious, but the young do not mingle with the 

 old birds, flocking together by themselves. They have a harsh, shrill cry 

 or scream, and hence arises the name Sea-Mew, which is not unfrequently 

 applied to them both in England and Germany, where they are called Mew, 

 or Mewen, and hence the French have derived their name for them, Mauve. 

 They build their nests either among the cliffs or merely in a hole scratched 

 on the beach. In the young birds, brown or ash colour predominates, and 

 they rarely attain their full plumage till the second or third year. The 

 plumage varies in the winter and summer ; for the head, which in summer 

 is in many instances of a black, brown, or dark colour, is in winter either 

 ashy or white. There are fifteen or sixteen species. 



The illustrated species is the Black-backed GuU (L. Marinus), and is 

 nearly twenty-five inches in length ; top of the head, ocular region, back of 

 the head and neck white, but each feather streaked longitudinally in the 

 middle with light brown ; the upper part of the back, scapulars, and whole 



wing deep black ; the rest of the back, the forehead, and all the under parts 

 white ; beak whitish-yellow, angle of lower mandible bright red ; naked 

 margin of the eyes red ; irides bright yellow, marbled with brown; legs 

 dirty white. 



RHYNCOPS Cutwater. This genus exhibits one of the most remarkable 

 forms of beak in the whole class of birds. (See Generic Character.) They 

 live on sand-banks and in salt-marshes, are found usually in parties of fifteen 

 or twenty pairs, and make their nest by forming slight hollows in the sand 

 at no great distance apart. They walk badly, and do not swim much, but 

 are continually on the wing, skimming over the surface of shallow water 

 near the shore where the fry of fishes and shrimps resort ; hence has arisen 

 the name of Skimmer applied to them by Pennant. They move along with 

 a slow, flapping flight, and with extended wings and bended neck, dip the 

 lower mandible, the mouth being at the same time open, and plough along 

 the surface of the water for the purpose of taking their food, which they 

 capture with as much ease as Swallows take their insect prey. From their 

 thus cutting through the water with their bill they were called by the 

 American Spaniards Rayador, or cutters, and hence probably originated 

 Catesby's name, Cutwater. They are found both in America and Africa. 



Species the Black Cutwater (R. Nigra), nineteen inches in length ; 

 breadth three feet eight inches when the wings are expanded ; upper man- 

 dible three and a half, and under mandible four and a half inches long, both 

 scarlet, tinged with orange and tipped with black ; upper part of the head, 

 neck, back, and scapulars deep black, as are also the wings ; forehead, 

 cheeks, throat, and under parts white ; tail-feathers black, broadly edged 

 with white, their coverts white on the outer sides, and black in the middle ; 

 legs and feet bright scarlet. It is found on both sides of the American 

 continent, and in both hemispheres. 



LESTIUS Skua. The Skuas are very courageous birds ; they attack the 

 Gulls, and compel them to drop the food they have fished up, which they 

 catch with great dexterity before it reaches the water. They fly in a very 

 peculiar manner, darting along, so as to be easily distinguished at a distance. 

 They are natives of the Arctic regions, the Orkneys, and Hebrides, and 

 rarely come southward. 



STERNA Tern. The Terns appear to assume among water birds the 

 place of the Fissirostral family of Passerine birds, especially the Swallows, 

 from the great length of their wings, their forked tail, and small feet, and 

 hence they have acquired the popular name of Sea Swallows. Some of them 

 feed entirely upon mollusca and small fishes, but others only upon winged 

 and aquatic insects ; the latter are rarely seen upon the sea-coast, to which 

 the former constantly resort. They herd together in large flocks, and their 

 nests are often so closely set that the sitting birds touch each other. They 

 undergo a double moult, but the change is confined to the region of the 

 head. Their distribution over the earth's surface is very general, as they 

 are found both in hot and cold climates, but from the latter they migrate 

 during winter. The species are numerous. 



Family SPLAY-FOOTED ; Steganopoda. 



The Birds belonging to this family fly well ; their legs are short, and 

 their feet are converted into paddles by the union of the thumb with the 

 other toes a single membrane connecting all. 



ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES. 

 PLATE 18. 



Genera. Specie*. Common Name. 



Pelecanus - - - Onocratalos - - - Common Pelican. 



Carbo ----- Cormoranus - - - Cormorant. 



Tachypetes - - - Aquilus - ... Great Frigate-bird. 



Sula Alba White Gannet. 



Platus ... - Levaillantii - - - Le Vaillant's Darter. 



Phaeton - - - - Phoenicurus - - - Red-tailed Tropic-bird. 



CHARACTERS OF THE OEKERA. 



1. PELECANUS. Beak long, straight, wide, and much depressed ; upper 

 mandible very flat, its point armed with a very strong, much-curved, com- 



