364 BRITISH BIRDS. 



made use of by the natives as a bladder to float 

 their fishing darts, after they are thrown : their 

 skins, which are tough, are used for garments, and 

 their flesh for food. 



Some authors, stricken with the singular con- 

 formation of the feet* and serrated claw, have 

 ascribed properties to them which they do not 

 possess, and believe that they hold their prey in 

 one foot, while with the other they push forward 

 to the shore, or carry it thither, in the same man- 

 ner, on the wing: but this seems mere con- 

 jecture, for the feet of this tribe are not fitted for 

 any such purpose ; they are, like those of all the 

 expert divers, placed far behind ; and while, by 

 the position of these, and the powerful strokes 

 from their broad webs, the bird is enabled to pur- 

 sue and take its slippery prey, the hooked sharp- 

 edged beak is the only fit instrument both to catch 

 and to secure it ; and there is no need to use the 

 awkward expedient of removing it afterwards to 

 the foot. 



At sea, or on the inland lakes, they make a ter- 

 rible havoc. From the greatest height they drop 

 down upon the object of pursuit, dive after it with 

 the rapidity of a dart, and, with an almost unerring 

 certainty, seize the victim ; then emerging, with 

 the fish across the bill, with a kind of twirl, throw 

 it up into the air, and dexterously catching it head 

 foremost, swallow it whole. 



While at rest on the shore, commonly on the 

 ledge of a projecting rock, these birds sit more or 

 less in an erect posture, and are propped up by 



* See the cut in the explanation of Technical Terms, vol. i. 



