INTEODTJOTION. 25 



their wings and very well-webbed feet, outswim the fishes they 

 pursue beneath the surface of the water. But skilful as they 

 are, the more marine of our two forms, the Shag, is apt to be 

 drowned by diving through a hole in the ice and not being able 

 to find again its place of entrance, a task successfully performed 

 by the Cormorant, which is habituated to fresh water. One 

 species of Cormorant has been domesticated by Chinamen, who 

 make use of it to catch fish while secured by a cord and collar. 

 But the organization of the set of Birds with which we are now 

 occupied finds its highest expression in the Darters. These are. 



Kg. 23. 



The Puffin {Fratermla arctiea). 



as it were, Cormorants with long necks, very curiously jointed, 

 and with straightened and sharpened bills. 



Four species of the genus are distributed over America, 

 South-eastern Asia, Africa, and Australia. These are none 

 of them Sea Birds. They inhabit swamps and rivers, where 

 they pursue fish with extraordinary agility, spearing^ them 

 through with their sharp beak before seizing them in the 

 mouth, as may often be seen with the American species {Phtus 

 anUnga, fig. 24) in our Zoological Gardens. A curious bend or 

 seeming lump in the neck is conspicuous, and indicates the spot 

 where the neck-bones are modified in a most remarkable manner, 

 to facilitate the unerring projection of the bill — like a spear- 

 head—against the body of the fish the bird desires to transfix. 



In the Gannet or Booby, also called the Solan Goose {Sula 



