GALLERY.] NATURAL HISTORY. 103 
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 young 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 disgust¬ 
ing, subsisting chiefly on food rejected 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 ) is at once distin¬ 
guished by the hind toe 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 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, while 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 
of the British species; the number, as far as they are 
yet arranged, indicates the Cases that contain them. 
