1 16 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
upper parts of the body also are dusky, marked with a few 
white spots. It is seldom found to the south of Scotland. 
Of the foreign birds of this species, the Chinese Diver is 
the only animal worth notice. The upper parts of the plum- 
age are of a greenish brown ; the under parts a reddish white, 
marked with dark spots. This is generally supposed to be 
one of the birds which the Chinese train up for the purpose 
of fishing, of which we shall have occasion to treat further 
when we speak of the corvorant. 
Of the Tern there are about twenty-three different spe- 
cies, which are all distinguished by one common character- 
istic, viz. the forked tail. 
The great tern is about fourteen inches long, and weighs 
four ounces and a quarter. The bill and feet are a fine crim- 
son, the former is tipt with black, and very slender. The 
back of the head is black ; the upper part of the body is 
pale grey, and the under part white. These birds have 
been called sea swallows, as they appear to have all the 
same actions at sea that the swallow has at land, seizing 
every insect which appears on the surface, and darting 
down upon the smaller fishes, which they seize with incre- 
dible rapidity. 
The lesser tern weighs only two ounces five grains. The 
bill is yellow, and from the eyes to the bill is a black line, 
In other respects it almost exactly resembles the preceding. 
The black tern is of a middle size between the two pie- 
ceding species. It weighs two ounces and a half. It receives 
its name from being all black as far as the vent, except a 
spot of white under the throat. This bird is called about 
Cambridge the ear swallow. It is a very noisy animal. 
Among the foreign birds of the tern genus, there are some 
found of a snowy white ; but the most singular bird of this 
kind is the striated tern which is found at New Zealand. 
It is thirteen inches in length. The bill is black, and the 
body in general mottled, or rather striped with black and 
white. The noddy is about fifteen inches in length. The 
bill is black, and two inches long, and the whole plumage 
a sooty brown, except the top of the head, which is white. 
It is a very common bird in the tropical seas, where it is 
known frequently to fly on board ships, and is taken with 
the hand. But though it be thus stupid, it bites the lingers 
severely so as to make it unsafe to hold it. It is said to 
breed in the Bahama islands. 
The whole genus of Petrels are known by having instead 
