82 
NATURAL HISTORY. []UPPER FLOOR. 
poucli; the Cormorant (Cases 81 and 82) has a slender 
bill and rounded taib 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 fea¬ 
thers in the middle of its tail. 
The Petrels (Cases 83—85) have compressed bills, 
strongly hooked at the end ; their hind claw is placed im¬ 
mediately on the tarsus, without any toe. Of all the Wa¬ 
ter 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 sto¬ 
machs. 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 single compressed 
bill, pointed at the end, with moderate sized, longitudinal 
nostrils. They live on the sea-shore, and eat flsh, 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 Razor-bill only 
differs in the under jaw being longest, and much com¬ 
pressed. The Lestris, or Skua Gull, diflers from the 
common Gull by having the two middle tail feathers longer 
than the rest. Their habits are disgusting, 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 
(Case 88) have forked tails, and the Boobies square tails 
and very long wings,. 
Over the door adjoining the Twelfth Room, is an 
original painting of the Dodo, presented to the Museum 
by George Edwards, Esq., the celebrated ornithological 
artist, and copied in his works, plate No. 294, who says it 
was drawn in Holland, from a living bird brought from 
St. Maurice’s Island in the East Indies.” The only re¬ 
mains of this bird at present known are a foot (Case 65) in 
