31 



certainty and store it up in their pouch ; which they 

 continue to do, until their bag, which in some will con- 

 tain fifteen quarts of water, is full, when they return 

 to land, to devour and digest at leisure : but their hungry 

 call arrives again before night, and again they reluctantly 

 go to their labour. 



The Darter has a very small body and a very long 

 neck, and is very expert in catching fish, and in terri- 

 fying the passengers : for in Java and Leghorn, they 

 sit on the shrubs that overhang the water, and on the 

 approach of any one, dart out their Jong necks to the 

 dismay of the obtruder, who thinks of nothing but poi- 

 sonous serpents. 



Cases 84 and 85 contain the Petrels ; which have the 

 faculty of spouting out a large quantity of pure oil from, 

 their bills, into the face of any one attempting to take 

 them : which oil is esteemed by the inhabitants of the 

 north, where they abound, as a sovereign remedy for 

 many complaints. They assemble on a Whale when it 

 is taken, and pick out large lumps of fat, in despite of 

 all endeavours to keep them off. They keep out farther 

 at sea than any other Water Bird : and during tempests 

 often seek refuge on ships. 



Gulls, which are sometimes seen slowly sailing over 

 rivers, watching for fish, and sometimes following the 

 ploughman, to pick up insects. It abounds most in the 

 north ; It has the fierceness of an Eagle in defending 

 its young; and when the natives attack its nest they 

 hold a knife above their heads* on which the unfortunate 

 bird falls, instead of the scull of the invader. 



The Tern is called the Sea Swallow, having the same 

 actions at sea, as the Swallow has on land: seizing every 

 insect that appears on the water's surface, and darting 

 with incredible rapidity on the smaller fishes. 



Over the Door adjoining the Twelfth Room, is a Por- 

 trait of a rare Bird called the Dodo, a native of the Isle 

 of France. The bill being of an extraordinary length 

 and thickness, makes the Bird appear when gaping, to 

 be all mouth. 



