NATURALISTS CABINET. 



Affection >for their young. 



of them die of disorders which arise from its pu- 

 trefaction. In general, however, water-fowl can 

 be properly said to be of no climate; the ele- 

 ment upon which they live, being their proper 

 residence. They necessarily spend a few months 

 of summer upon land, to bring up their young : 

 but the rest of their time is probably consumed 

 in their migrations, or near some unknown coasts, 

 where their provision of fish is found in the 

 greatest abundance." 



Mr. Pennant has asserted, that their affection 

 for their young is so great, that when laid hold 

 of by the wings, they will give themselves the 

 most cruel bites on any part of their body that 

 they can reach, as it' actuated by despair; and 

 when released, instead of flying away, they will 

 often hurry again into their burrows." However, 

 the Rev. Mr. Bingley informs us, " that when he 

 was in Wales, in the summer of 180i, he took 

 several of them out of the holes that had young 

 ones in them, for the purpose of ascertaining 

 this fact. They bit him with great violence, 

 but none of them seized on any parts of their 

 own body: a few, on being released, ran into 

 the burrows; but not always into those from 

 whence he had taken them : if it were more easy 

 for them to escape into a hole than raise them- 

 selves into the air, they did so; but if not, they 

 ran down the slope of the hill in which their bur- 

 rows were formed, and flew away. The noise 

 jthey make when with their young, is a singular 



