142 



THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 



CHAP. X 



SEA-BIRDS. 



Their vast Numbers. — Strand-Birds. — Artifices of the Sea-Lark to protect its 

 Young. — Migrations of the Strand-Birds. — The Sea-Birds in General. — The 

 Anatidae. — The Eider Duck. — The Sheldrake. — The Loggerheaded Duck. — 

 Auks and Penguins. — The Cormorant. — Its Use by the Chinese for Pish 

 catching.— The Frigate Bird.— The Soland Goose.— The Gulls.— The Petrels.— 

 The Albatross. — Bird-catching on St. Kilda. — The Guano of the Chincha 

 Islands. 



Countless are the birds of the wood and field, of the mountain 

 and the plain; and yet it is doubtful whether they equal in 

 number those of the fish-teeming seas. 

 For every naked rock or surf-beaten cliff 

 that rises over the immeasurable deserts 

 of ocean, is the refuge of myriads of sea- 

 birds ; every coast, from the poles to the 

 equator, is covered with their legions 

 and far from land, their swarms hover 

 over the solitudes of the deep. Many, 

 unfit for swimming, seek their food along 

 the shores ; others rival the fishes in their 

 own native element; and others, again, 

 armed with indefatigable wings, pursue 

 their prey upon the high seas. But, 

 however different the mode of living and 

 destination of the numerous tribes, families, 

 genera, and species of the sea-birds may be, 

 each of them is organised in the most 

 perfect manner for the exigencies of its own peculiar sphere. 

 Take, for instance, the Strand-birds, that live on the margin of 

 ocean, and feast upon the molluscs and sea-worms, that inhabit 



Flamingo. 



