96 
RO OM X III. have t } ie w ings ver y short and covered with feathers, 
Nat. Hist, but no hind toe, as (same Cases) the Guillemots, 
Penguins, and Puffins; while the Manchots have very 
short wings, covered with small scale-like feathers, and 
all the toes directed forwards. 
The Birds of the second group have very long wings, 
which enable them to suspend themselves in the air for 
a great length of time, so that it almost appears to be 
their proper sphere, as they are seldom seen on the 
ground except in the breeding season. 
The family of Pelicans (Cases 81 and 82) is at once 
distinguished by the hind toes being united to the others 
by a web; their legs are short; they are excellent 
swimmers, and often perch on trees; the edge of their 
beak is generally toothed, and their throat dilated into 
a bag, in which they keep the fish, as they catch them, 
to feed their young: the true Pelican (Case 83) has a 
broad beak and enormous pouch ; the Cormorant (Cases 
81 and 82) has a slender bill and rounded tail, while 
the tail of the Frigate-bird is forked; the Booby, so 
called from its excessive stupidity, has a broad bill; 
and the Darter is peculiar for the small size of its 
body and the length of its neck: the Tropic Bird, which 
resembles the Gulls in form, has two long feathers in 
the middle of its tail. 
The Petrels (Cases 83—85) have compressed bills, 
strongly hooked at the end; their hind claw is placed 
immediately on the tarsus, without any toe. Of all the 
Water Birds, these keep more especially out at sea; they 
often fly so far from land that during tempests they are 
obliged to take refuge aboard the vessels they may-hap¬ 
pen to fall in with. They build in holes on rocks, and 
when attacked, squirt out a quantity of acrid oil from 
their stomachs. Some have the nostrils placed on the 
top of the beak, forming a single tube, as in the Petrels, 
and others have them formed of two tubes placed on the 
side of the beak, as the Albatrosses, peculiar for their very 
long wings, furnished with long quills only at the top. 
The Gulls (Cases 86 and 87) have a simple compressed 
bill, 
