BIRDS. 399 



(liffere!il i'roni tiiat of a duck, its edge is upwards : it is of a trian- 

 gular figure, and ending in a sharp point, the upper chap bent a 

 little downward, where it is joined to the head ; and a certain 

 callous substance encompassing its base, as in parrots. It is of 

 two colours J ash-coloured near the base, and red towards the 

 point. It has three furrows or grooves impressed in it ; one in 

 the livid part, two in the red. The eyes are fenced with a pro- 

 tuberant skin, of a livid colour ; and they are gray or ash-col- 

 oured. These are marks sufficient to distinguish this bird by ; 

 but its value to those in whose vicinity it breeds, renders it still 

 more an object of curiosity. 



The puffin, like all the rest of this kind, has its legs thrown so 

 far back, that ii can hardly move without tumbling. This makes 

 it rise with difficulty, and subject to many falls before it gets upon 

 the wing : but as it is a small bird, not much bigger than a pigeon, 

 when it once rises, it can continue its flight with great celerity. 



Both this and all the former build no nest ; but lay their eggs 

 either in the crevices of rocks, or in holes under ground near the 

 shore. They chiefly choose the latter situation ; for the puffin, 

 the auk, the guillemot, and the rest, cannot easily rise to the nest 

 when in a lofty situation. Many are the attempts these birds 

 are seen to make to fly up to those nests which are so high above 

 the surface. In rendering them inaccessible to mankind, they 

 often render them almost inaccessible to themselves. They 



T/ie Slack Guillemot.— The length of the Hack giiillpinot is about fourteen 

 indies, liivadth twi'iity-two, and its weight fourteen ounces. In some of 

 tills species the whole plumage is black ; in others the lesser quills are tipt 

 M'itli white ; ami all those that remain in the northern climates are said to 

 turn white in winter. These birds are found in great numbers in the norti. 

 Bea, in Greenland, Iceland, Spitzbergen, and the Feroe isles ; and when the 

 winter sets in, they migrate .southward along the shores of Scotland and 

 Etigland, where some of them remain and breed. The nest is made in thu 

 deep crevices of rocks which overhang the sea ; the eggs are of a gray col. 

 our. Some ornithologists assert, that the female lays only one : others, that 

 she lay.s two. 1 hey fly commonly in pairs, and so low that they raise the 

 surface of the sea by the Happing of their narrow wings. 'I'he fireenJanders 

 eat the flesh of this bird, and use its skin for clothing, and the legs us a bail 

 for their fishing-lines. Ray, Albin, Willoiighby, and Kdwards have named 

 it the Greenland dove, or sea-turtle. In the Orkneys it is called the tyste. 



The Gifilitit belong to this family of birds. They are not web-footed, but 

 the toes are enlarged as in the coots. They live lui lakes and poi»^, iind 

 build in tlie rushes. Their pluraiige, which changes much with age, is used 

 frequently by furriers. 



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