134 
NATURAL HISTORY 
seen to choose the same places of breeding ; some distant, 
uninhabited island, where the ground slants to the sea, as 
the penguin is not formed either for flying or climbing. In 
such places their nests are seen together, as if they stood in 
need of mutual assistance and protection. In the middle 
on high, the albatross raises its nest, on heath, sticks and 
long grass, about two feet above the surface ; and round 
this, the penguins make their lower settlements, rather in 
holes in the ground ; and most usually eight penguins to 
one albatross. 
There are about three other species of albatross, all ot 
them smaller than the preceding. The upper parts of the 
plumage are a dusky blue black, and the rump and under 
parts white; but what peculiarly distinguishes it is, that 
the bill, which is four inches long, is black, all but the 
upper ridge, which is yellow quite to the tip. It inhabits 
the South Seas within the tropics. 
The Skimmer, or cutwater, is twenty inches in length, 
and in breadth three feet seven inches. The bill is of a 
very singular structure, the upper chap, or mandible, being 
above an inch shorter than the under, and the upper shuts 
into it, as a razor into its handle. The base of the bill is 
red, the rest black, and on the sides arc several furrows. 
The forehead, chin, and all the under parts are white ; the 
upper parts of the plumage black, with a bar of white 
across each wing. The tail is short and forked. It inha- 
bits all America; is commonly on the wing, and skims along 
the surface to catch the small fish on which it feeds. It is 
frequently known by the name of the razor-bill. 
The Penguin genus includes about nine species, which 
seem to hold the same place in the southern parts of the 
world, as the anks do in the North, neither of them having 
ever been observed within the tropics. The wings of the 
larger species do not enable them to rise out of the water, 
but serve them rather as paddles to help them forward, when 
they attempt to move swiftly ; and in a manner walk along 
the surface of the water. Even the smaller kinds seldom 
fly by choice; they flutter their wings with the swiftest 
efforts without making way ; and though they have but a 
small weight of body to sustain, yet they seldom venture to 
quit the water, where they are provided with food and pro- 
tection. 
As the wings of the penguin tribe are unfitted for flight, 
the legs are still more awkwardly adapted for walking. This 
