ORDER PALMIPEDES. 655 



ing to Dampier, they nestle on them in the Isle of Aves. 

 But they more usually breed on solitary islands, on rocks, 

 and on cliffs which border the sea. They lay but one or two 

 eggs, equally pointed at both ends, and whose surface is 

 rough and white. Though they prefer, for nestling, the 

 islands situated between the tropics, they are found in the 

 Hebrides, in Scotland, in Norway, and as far as Kamtschatka. 

 But they only remain there during summer ; M^hen winter 

 approaches, they return to the south with their young. These 

 remain a very long time covered with a very soft and white 

 down. 



M. Temminck tells us that the skin of the neck is not ad- 

 herent to the muscles, but that it holds merely to the body by 

 a cellular tissue, very loose, that is to say, composed of some 

 fibres, placed at unequal distances, and that it is susceptible 

 of great extension. He adds, that in both sexes, the carti- 

 laginous trachea has its tube towards the glottis, and dilates 

 in the form of a tunnel, as in the corvorant ; but that the 

 larynx is furnished on each side with a tympani form mem- 

 brane. 



The Anhingas (Plotus), Dabtee of Latham, are birds 

 which inhabit the most southern and the warmest regions of 

 both continents, where they frequent fresh waters, and inun- 

 dated savannahs. Though palmipedes, they perch on trees 

 which border the shore, pass the night there, and construct 

 their nest on the most elevated branches. But it is an error 

 to suppose that they dart from thence, to seize on their pas- 

 sage the fishes which constitute their food. This habit, very 

 natural to a bird of prey, which cannot support itself in the 

 water, is not likely to belong to one that is an excellent swim- 

 mer and diver, and that has so many other means of discover- 

 ing fish, of pursuing, and obtaining it when it is on its fa- 

 vourite element. Notwithstanding the sharp form of the bill 

 of the plotus, it is not probable that the point serves it 

 for a dart to pierce its prey, which it seizes between the man- 



