256 
SWIMMERS. 
pirate of the main, daring and strong, and wary as bold, has too 
slight claim for recognition here to demand an extended notice. 
These birds live as solitary as Eagles, but defend their nests as 
few Eagles dare, attacking fiercely man or dog venturing to ap- 
proach, and displaying a front that few dogs care to close upon. 
The nests are built chiefly within the Arctic Circle and in northern 
Europe, and the birds visit our waters only in winter, and but rarely 
then ; and the few examples that do wander this way are never seen 
near the shore, but are met with by the fishermen, whose boats they 
follow for the refuse. 
