EAST. ZOOL. GAL.] NATURAL HISTORY. 75 
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 on board the vessels they may happen 
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: the latter are remarkable 
for the extreme length of their wings, furnished with long 
quills only at the top. The Gulls have the bill pointed 
at the end, with moderate sized, longitudinal nostrils. 
They live on the sea-shore, and eat fish, and carrion of 
all kinds. The voung are generally of a dark, speckled- 
gray colour; the adult, gray or white. The true Gulls 
have rounded tails; from them the Skinner only differs in 
the under jaw being longest, and much compressed. The 
Lestris , or Skua Gull, differs from the common Gull by 
having the two middle tail feathers longer than the rest. 
Their habits are disgusting, subsisting chiefly on food re¬ 
jected from the stomach of the common Gull, in its alarm 
when chased by the Skua, and which the latter catches 
before it falls into the water. The Terns ( Sterna ) have 
forked tails, and the Noddies ( Megaloptera) square tails 
and very long wings. 
The family of Pelicans (. PelecanidcE , Cases 162—166) 
is at once distinguished by the hind toe being united to 
the others by a web ; their legs are short; they are ex¬ 
cellent 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 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 true Pelican has a 
broad beak and enormous pouch; the Cormorant has a 
slender bill and rounded tail, w T hile the tail of the Frigate- 
bird is forked; the Booby, so called from its excessive 
stupidity, has a broad bill. 
The following table exhibits, at one view, the arrange¬ 
ment of the families of birds, and a list of the genera 
e 2 
