PALMIPEDES. 



fishing or at rest, one of them is always on the lookout, with 

 head erect, and if any thing alarms him, he utters a braying cry, 

 resembling the sound of a trumpet, which is the signal for depar- 

 ture ; as soon as the troop rises, and when they fly, they still 

 preserve the line. The manner in which they construct their 

 nest, is also worthy of attention ; they ordinarily build on drowned 

 or wet shores; they construct it on the water's edge, of marsh 

 mud, in the form of a sugar loaf, truncated at top, about twenty 

 inches high, and as they cannot, on account of the extreme 

 length of their legs, squat in their nest, they straddle over it, the 

 legs hanging down on each side, and resting on the ground. 



66. The ancients esteemed the flesh of the Flamingos very 

 highly, and its fleshy tongue was particularly prized by the 

 Romans ; but the moderns, who have had occasion to eat these 

 birds, have found the flesh oily and disagreeable. 



67, The Glarioles and Vaginals, or Sheath-bills, offer nothing 

 very interesting ; the first are found in all the northern part of 

 the eastern continent, and the second in New Holland. 



LESSON VIII. 



Order of Palmipedes — Zoological Characters. — Habits. — -Divi- 

 sion into four families. 



Family of Divers. — Grebes. — ^iuks. — Pengvins. 



Family of Longipexnes. — Petrels. — Albatross. — Gulls. — Sea- 

 Swallows. 



Family of Totipalmat-^:. — Genvs of Pelicans, (Pelican properly 

 so called.) — Organization. — Habits. — Frigate Bird. — Boobies. 



Family of Lamellirostres, — Genus of Ducks. — Swans. — Geese. 

 — Ducks. — Eiders — Genus of the Mergansers. 



ORDER OF PALMIPEDES. 



1. This name is given to birds in which the toes are united by 

 a palmate membrane, but in other respects without the conforma- 

 tion . that belongs to the Grallatorise ; every Palmipede has, in 

 fact, the interval which separates the toes, filled up by a broad 

 membrane, which envelopes them to neai the nail, or in other 



66. Is the flesh of Flamingos considered good food ? 



67. What arc Glarioles and Vaginals ? 



L What are Palmipedes ? What are the most remarkable parts of their 

 organization ? How is this order divided ? 



