3* MANUAL OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



little Phalarope may be seen swimming buoyantly 

 on the sea, the lake, or the fresh-water pond. In 

 the quiet, lonely pool, or sequestered swamp, the 

 Heron may be detected standing, silently watching 

 for its prey ; the migratory Spoonbill has a similar 

 resort ; and the Crane, and the Stork seek their food 

 alike in the morass or the open plain. The Geese 

 and the Ducks are universally observed, some fre- 

 quenting the rivers, others resorting to the sea, while 

 some find sustenance on the shores and flats left 

 exposed by the retiring tide. The Gulls seek for 

 food near the sea-coast, or resort to cultivated lands 

 in search of worms ; a few lead a piratical life, and 

 subsist by plundering other species. The Albatros 

 and the Petrels roam at large over the waste of 

 waters ; the Divers, the Grebes, and the Auks, are 

 found in bays, creeks, rivers, or near cliff-bound 

 coasts, in all parts of the world ; while the sin- 

 gularly formed Penguins select their habitations 

 around the rocky islands of the Southern Ocean. 



The architecture of birds is also a subject for our 

 admiration. The curiously constructed nests of the 

 Weavers of Africa, and the beautifully woven cradles 

 of the Hangnests, suspended in numbers together 

 from the slender branches of trees in the forests of 

 tropical America, are among the most remarkable ; 

 though not less interesting are those of others, par- 

 ticularly when taken in connection with the condi- 

 tions under which they live. The heaps of vegetable 

 matter brought together by the Mound-bird of Aus- 

 tralia, wherein several females deposit their eggs to 



