284 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



The Alcairaci of the West Indies 



The inhabitants of Kamtschatka make buovs 

 to their nets, of the intestines of the man-of-war 

 birds, which they blow up like bladders. They 

 also mako tobacco-pipes and needle cases,, of the 

 bones of the wings; and use them too for heck- 

 ling the glass, which serves them instead of ffax. 

 The flesh is very hard and dry. 



This bird seems to he a species of the Alca- 

 traci, only with this difference, the one frequents 

 the Ea*t, and the other the West Indies : he has 

 a great red comb, or rather wattle, hanging 

 under his throat like a cock's, which does not 

 appear in the young till they are full grown ; the 

 females have none; there is no difficulty in tak- 

 ing of them when they sit on the ground, or in 

 their nest, on account of the length of their 

 wings, which hinders them from, rising hastily, 

 so that they may be beaten down with long 

 sticks. The oil or fat of this bird is accounted a 

 sovereign remedy for several disorders proceeding 

 from cold,, and is in great esteem all over the In- 

 dies. It is a sea fowl, but its feet are not webbed 

 as the East India ones are. 



A Portuguese traveller describes a bird he fre- 

 quently saw at Brasil, which they call the cari- 

 pira, otherwise the iorked-tail, the tail being di- 

 vided in the midst. The fat or oil of this bird he 

 says is good in particular cases, and the feathers 

 serve the Indians for their arrows : he adds, that 

 they are certain fore-runners of the arrival of the 

 ships, it very seldom failing, that some days after 

 they are seen, the ships arrive in the ports. 





