304 NATATORES. 



beaches, though they also can accommodate themselves in 

 rocky situations. Rabbits and they are sometimes found 

 inhabiting the same localities; but whether they live in 

 peace or dispossess each other, is not clearly ascertained. As 

 is the case with most other diving birds, they lay but one 

 egg ; and as is the case with other hole birds, the female 

 does not sit so closely as do those species which perform 

 their incubations upon the open shelves. The male alter- 

 nates with her on the nest while she is feeding. The egg 

 is white. The birds defend their nests with great boldness 

 and resolution, and the pinch that they can give, and the 

 hold that they can keep with their bills, are both very 

 powerful, and there are few enemies that can attack them 

 in their strongholds with impunity. The people of some 

 countries, however, draw them from their burrows in con- 

 siderable numbers, using the young as food, and the old as 

 bait for fish. Many anecdotes of them are recorded in the 

 writings of authors, and many more might be added ; but 

 we have no space farther to continue the history of the very 

 curious family of diving birds, or birds which chiefly seek 

 their food in the water. 



FLAT-BILLED BIRDS, OR DABBLERS. 



This is by far the most numerous division of our swimming 

 birds, and the one which is the most useful to man in an 

 economical point of view ; but it is also the one with the 

 structure, characters, and habits of which we are most 

 familiar in the domestic race, the geese, swans, and ducks, so 

 that very minute details are less absolutely necessary. 



The most remarkable as well as the most general distin- 

 guishing character of these birds is the structure of the bill, 

 which, though it varies considerably in shape in different 

 species, still preserves the distinguishing character. It is 

 flattened, thick, and the mandibles are covered with a skin 



