8812 



Birds. 



force up oily matter into the mouth, for the birds would go through 

 the movements of swallowing for some time afterwards. Through the 

 day, and often in the night, this miserable moan would be uttered at 

 set intervals. I kept one of this species alive, to see how long he 

 would live without food, and he lived on, week after week, without 

 showing any particular signs of weakness, till about the 20th day. 

 He then began to look shaky, but still obstinately refused to eat fish. 

 On the 29th day he died : but his abstinence from food was in reality 

 greater than that extraordinary number of days ; for he had been in 

 the possession of the fishermen who caught him nearly a week before 

 he came to me. When fresh taken in the spring, the birds are parti- 

 cularly fat : but this starved specimen had survived on the gradual 

 absorption of his adipose tissue ; for when 1 dissected him his flesh 

 was quite hard and dry, with scarce any signs of fat about any part. 

 Birds of prey, and most birds that wander far and seek a precarious 

 living, can survive a long while without food ; but I never before 

 heard of such an extraordinary power of abstinence as these alba- 

 trosses have proved themselves to possess. 



183. Colymbus septentrionalis, L. 



184. Podiceps minor, L. 



185. Phalacrocorax carbo, L. 



186. P. bicristatus, Pali. 



187. Querquedula Circia, L. 



188. Q. crecca, L. 



189. Q. glocitans, Pall. 



190. P. falcaria, Pall. 



191. Mareca Penelope, L. 



192. Dafila acuta, L. 



193. Anas boschas, L. 



194. A. poecilorhyncha, Pennant. 



195. Spatula clypeata, L. 



196. Tadorna vulpanser, Flem. 



197. Casarca rutila, Pall. 



198. Fuligula marila, L. 



199. F. cristata, Ray. 



200. Clangula glaucion, L. 



201. Mergus serrator, L. 



There are, doubtless, other species comprised in the immense flocks 

 of Anatidse that spread down our shores during winter. None, how- 

 ever, as far as I am aware, stay to breed. Geese and swans 1 did not 

 observe ; but most certainly some species of these also come to us, as 



