ORDER NATATORES. 



rjlHE want of many great rivers and lakes in Australia may account for the absence of a considerable 

 number of the more valuable or famous varieties of aquatic birds which are found in other continents 

 blessed with larger inland seas. Still, a general survey of the oarv-footed kinds which inhabit our fresh 

 waters, shows that we possess many strange and interesting species of these birds, while our coast, with the 

 great extent of latitude which it spans, gives habitation to a great and varied multitude of them. Taking 

 first our weakest points in this Order, compared with other countries, the Mergansers, Guillemots and Puffins, 

 which are so plentiful in other latitudes, are absent. The true genus Anser, the Goose, is also unrepre- 

 sented. Under the common name of Geese are several varieties belonging to the family AnatidcB, notably 

 the Cereopsis Goose, so frequently mentioned by the early explorers, with its feeble powers of flying and 

 inability to escape pursuit, leading to its lamentably rapid destruction. Under this family comes also 

 our only swan : a meagre representative of that lordly tribe, but famous by reason of its dusky plumage. 

 The stately Pelican with his pouch and wonderful manner of fishing must not be forgotten. There are 

 two Sheldrakes and but few varieties of Ducks. Of Grebes, with their curious plumage and floating 

 nests, Australia boasts the possession of about as many as are found in Europe. The same remark 

 applies to Cormorants; the Diver, with its marvellous swiftness and cunning in the water, has also a 

 representative, and the Darter, with its snake-like head and neck. This country is rich in Terns, or 

 Sea-Swallows, which, though web-footed, appear to use only their powerful wings for locomotion, and the 

 three varieties of Penguins, standing in myriads like lines of soldiers afford a spectacle unknown to many 

 countries. The Gannets are numerous, and may be seen all round the coast, making their daring plunges 

 after unwary fish: among these the "Booby," with its complacence and lack of fear, is the most comical of 

 birds. The snow-white and silvery Gull is found in all latitudes, but only torrid lands are visited by the 

 Tropic-Bird, with its rosy, coveted tail-feathers, and Australia's northern coasts are frequented by one of 

 these. The predatory Frigate-Bird makes his raids along our shores, and, lastly, the Albatrosses and Petrels 

 are found in great abundance and variety. The Albatross, with his giant wing and tireless flight, the 

 " Stormy Petrels" or "Mother Carey's Chickens," both of them indefatigable in flight and in their attendance 

 on vessels long before they sight our shores, and still with that uncanny flavour to their reputation among 

 sailors, that to kill them brings disaster ; with these and the other examples it will readily be allowed 

 that on the whole Australia is rich in the number of birds which she possesses of the most instructive 

 Order of Natatores. 



