3Q4 VERTEBRATA. 



sitimtioiis. The nest is always of a very rude description ; but some species have the instinct to 

 atUich their nosts to miiiatic j)lants in such a manner that, although it is securely anchored to one 

 spot, it is capal.le of rising or falling, in accordance with any change that may take place in the 



level of the wati-r. 



'I'll.- immense nund)er of birds that live on the water, and are hence called Water-fowl, absolutely 

 balHes hum.iii eompreliension. Not only the rivers and lakes— especially those remote from the 

 abodes of man— teem with them, but the boundless shores of the ocean are peopled with multi- 

 tutles which no man can nund)er. On inimerous islands they have heaped up mountains of 

 <;uam\* which are now taken from their native beds and distributed over Europe and America, 

 As alVurding a vivid idea of the immense collections of sea-fowl on the rocky borders of the ocean, 

 we copy the following descriptionf of Ailsa Craig, an island on the west of Scotland : 



" It was a naked rock, rising nine liundrcd and eighty feet abruptly out of the sea. A little 

 level space projected on one side, with a small house on it. We could not conjecture the use of 

 a liabitation there. The captain of the steamer said it was the Govcrnor''s house. We asked 

 him what a governor could do there. 'Take care of the birds,' he replied; 'and he pays the 

 Marquis of Ailsa, the proprietor, who takes his title from the Craig, fifty pounds rent for the priv- 

 ile"-c of takino- them.' ' What sort of birds ?' we asked liim. ' Sea-fowd of all sorts,' he said. 

 'Thev inhabit the Craig, and ye'll may be see numbers of them. They arc quite numerous. The 

 marquis has threatened prosecution if people fire upon the Craig from the vessels. They have 

 been in the habit of firing to alarm the birds, to see them fly.' He had been himself governor 

 of the Craig, he said, some years before, and bad great sport and some danger in killing the birds. 

 His way of killing them was with a club, and he told us how many thousand — we dare not say 

 how manv — he had killed in a single day of a famous kind of goose. He had let himself down 

 to a quarter of the cliffs where they haunted, to get the young and eggs, and the old ones attacked 

 him, and he fought them with his club till he was covered with blood — theirs and his own. He 

 had a good mind, he said, to give them one gun, just to let us see them fly, as we were strangers. 

 As he had been the marquis's governor, he said, he would venture that he would overlook it in 

 him. He ordered his boy to bring the musket. The boy returned and said it -was left behind at 

 Glasgow. 'Load up the swivel, then,' said the captain; 'it will be all the better. It w^ill make 

 quite a flight, ye'll find. Load her up pretty well.' 



"The steamer meanwhile kept nearing the giant Craig, which was a bare rock from summit to 

 the sea, and all of a dull, chalky whiteness, occasioned as the captain said, by the excrement of 

 the birds. We saw caves in the sides of the mountain, and down by the water ; the retreats, our 

 informant told us, in former times, of the smugglers, who used to frequent the Craig, and carry on 

 an extensive trade from these places of concealment. We had got so near as to see the white 

 birds flitting across the black entrances of the caverns, like bees about the hive. With the spy- 

 glass we could see them distinctly, and in very considerable numbers, and at length approached 

 so that we could see them on the ledges all over the sides of the mountain. We had passed the 

 skirt of the Craig, and were within a half mile, or less, of its base. With the glass we could now 

 see the entire mountain side peopled with the sea-fowl, and could hear their whimpering, house- 

 hold cry, as they moved about, or nestled in domestic snugness on the ten thousand ledges. The 

 air, too, about the precipices seemed to be alive with them. Still we had not the slightest con- 

 ception of their frightful multitude. AVe got about against the center of the mountain, when the 

 swivel was fired. The shot went point-blank against it, and struck the tremendous precipice as 



* The beds of Guaso, found in various places, consisting of the excrement, bones, and feathers of sea-fowl, afford 

 evidence of the enormous quantities of birds collected in these haunts. On the Lohos or Chinclm Islands, in the 

 Pacific, fourteen miles west of Peru, the beds are more than a hundred feet thick, and although numerous vessels are 

 constantly employed in transporting it to Europe and America, to be used for manure, it is supposed that the deposit 

 will last for a hundred years. The fertilizing properties of this were known to the ancient Peruvians, and it was 

 extensively used by them in their agriculture. It was long neglected by the Spanish Peruvians, but their attention 

 has been lately turned to it, and now it is one of the chief sources of revenue to the state. It is estimated that the 

 whole value of the deposit is five hundred millions of dollars! No doubt the accumulation has been going on for 

 thousands of years ; but still, its almost incalculable magnitude shows that myriads of birds must have contributed 

 to such a result. 



t Bv Nathaniel P. Rodgers. 



