260 
aves. 
flank. These ornaments fall in a few weeks, and are but imperfectly developed in younger individuals, and 
seldom except in a state of perfect liberty. In some parts of Europe, this species builds upon house-tops, and not 
unfrequently on trees : but on the British coast, they mostly resort to precipitous rocks or islets, generally in 
society. From their croaking voice, dark colour, and appearance on the wing, they are often termed Sea Crows. 
They can climb with considerable facility, aided by the beak and rigid tail-feathers. Occasionally they fly to inland 
waters and fish-preserves, where they are notoriously destructive, and are observed to evince a marked preference 
for Eels. 
The other species, or Crested Cormorant, (PkaL cristatus, Glass), is smaller, and less robust, with only twelve tail- 
feathers ; its glosses incline more to green, and the adults Eave an elegant recurved crest during the breeding 
season. This bird is commoner towards the north, while the preceding is more numerous southward : neverthe- 
less, the Bronzed Cormorant appears to occur in both continents, whereas the Crested is represented in North 
America by a different one {Pk. dilophus), both of these extending to high latitudes, though respectively peculiar 
to the Old and New World, so far as has yet been observed. 
A third European species is the Black Cormorant (Pel. graculus, Gm.); a diminutive of the first, but possessing 
only twelve tail-feathers, like the preceding, with which it has been confounded until very recently, by British 
naturalists. It inhabits to the southward of the British Isles, in which it has not hitherto been met with.) 
The Tachypetes {Tachypetes, Vieillot) — 
Differ from the Cormorants by a forked tail, short feet, the membranes of which are very deeply notched, 
an excessive spread of wing, and a beak both mandibles of which are curved at the tip. Their wings 
are so powerful that they fly at an immense distance from ail land, and principally between the tropics, 
darting upon the Flying-fish, and striking the Gannets to make them disgorge their prey. 
One only is known (Pel. aquilus, Lin.), the plumage of which is [richly empurpled] black, the under-part of the 
throat more or less varied with white, and the beak red. Its extent of wing is reported to be sometimes ten or 
even twelve feet. [This is the noted Frigate-bird, or Man-of-War-hird, of the English sailors, which is surpassed 
in command of wing by none of the class, if equalled by any. It breeds on trees on uninhabited islands, and 
lays a single spherical white egg.] 
The Ga.nnets {Sula, Brisson; Dysporus, Illiger) — 
Have a straight beak, slightly compressed and pointed, with the tip a little arcuated, and its edges serrated, 
the denticulations [which are more developed in the Cormorants] directed backwards : the [im- 
pervious] nostrils are prolonged in a line nearly to the tip : the throat is naked, as is also the skin of 
the eyes ; the former but slightly extensible : inner edge of the middle claw serrated. The wings are 
less extended than in the Tachypetes, and the tail is a little cuneated. These birds are called Boobies, on 
account of the stupidity with wEich they [certain species of them] allow themselves to be attacked by 
men and birds, more particularly the Tachypetes, w'hich, as already stated, force them to yield up the 
prey they have captured. 
The most common is the European Gannet (Pel. hassanus, Lin.).— White, with black feet and wing primaries, 
the bill greenish, and nearly equal in size to a Goose. [A common species in the British seas, which breeds in 
vast numbers upon the Bass rock in the Frith of Forth, and one or two other similar localities : the young are at 
first covered with the blackish down common to the group, in which they contrast remarkably with their white 
parents ; their first plumage is dark above, beautifully speckled with white, these terminal specks gradually 
wearing off. The Gannets take their prey by plunging upon it from on high, and sail with an easy flight, with 
little motion of the wings. Their air cavities are extraordinarily developed ; the ambient medium permeating all 
their bones with the exception of the phalanges of the toes, and passing imder the skin of the breast, which is 
only attached to the muscles by a number of scattered connecting pillars ; a structure which is also met with in 
the Phaetons.] 
The Anhingas {Plotus, Lin.) — 
With the body and feet nearly like those of a Cormorant, have a very long neck, and a slender, straight, 
and pointed bill, with denticulated edges ; the eyes and nudity of the face as in the Pelicans, of which 
they have likewise the habits, nestling, like those birds, upon trees. [They may be described as Cor- 
morants, with the bill and neck of a Heron. 
Two or three species are found, in both continents ; the body inferior in size to that of a common Duck.] 
The Phaetons {Phaeton, Lin.) — 
Are known by their two very long and slender tail-feathers, which, at a distance, resemble a straw. 
Their head has no naked part. The beak is straight, pointed, denticulated, and moderately stout, 
[with pervious nostrils at all ages] : their feet are short, and their wings long. Accordingly, they fly 
very far from land, on the high seas ; and as they rarely quit the boundaries of the torrid zone, their 
appearance serves to indicate to mariners the vicinity of the tropic, [whence their common name of 
