The Gull, and all its varieties, is well known in every part of the Kingdom. It is seen, with a slow sailing flight, hovering over rivers to prey upon the smaller kinds of fish, and sometimes following the ploughman in fallow fields to pick up insects.

The Pelican is about the size of the Swan, and nearly similar in shape and colour. Its bill is nearly eighteen inches long, but the most singular part of its construction is the curious bag which is attached to the lower mandible, said to be capable of holding fifteen quarts of water. This bag, when empty, it wrinkles up into the hollow of the under chop, so that it is then not seen. They are very gluttonous, but so exceedingly indolent that nothing but necessity can excite them to labour. When they have raised themselves about thirty or forty feet above the surface of the sea, they turn their head with one eye downwards, and as soon as they perceive a fish sufficiently near the surface, they dart down upon it with the swiftness of an arrow, scize it with unerring certainty, and store it up in their pouch. This they continue to do till their bag is full, when they retire to land, and devour at leisure the fruits of their toil. Though web-footed, they, with the Cormorant and some others of this family, perch upon trees.

The Cormorant, or Scart, is nearly the size of a Goose. They are extremely voracious, and have a rank and disagreeable smell. From their adroitness in catching fish they have been trained for the purpose, particularly in China. Having tied a thong round their neck to prevent them from swallowing the fish they capture, their owners take them out in a boat into a lake, when, on a given signal, they hunt about until they find their prey. Should the fish prove too large for one, they mutually assist each other, and carry it without fail to their master. It builds its nest on rocks, and even in some cases, on trees.

The Gannet, or Solan Goose, is about the size of the tame Goose, and is found in Iceland; on Ailsa Craig in the Clyde; on the Rocks of St Kilda; and in great numbers on the Bass in the Frith of Forth. If, in sailing round this precipitous island, one surveys its hanging cliffs, in every crag and fissure of the broken rocks may be seen innumerable birds of various kinds, but of these the

Solan Goose forms by far the greater number; at the same time, the flocks upon the wing are so numerous that they may be said to darken the air like a cloud; and their noise is such, that persons speaking can with difficulty hear one another.

The Swan was formerly considered a great delicacy, but at present they are chiefly preserved for their beauty. When seen smoothly sailing along the water, commanding a thousand graceful attitudes; when it ". proudly rows its state," as Milton describes it, "with arched neck, between its white wings mantling," there is not a more beautiful object in nature.

The Wild Goose is rather less than the tame. They are supposed to breed in the northern parts of Europe; and, in the beginning of winter, to visit more temperate regions to obtain a better supply of food.

The Wild Duck is another of our winter visitors, and is to be seen in vast numbers, and in great variety in the bays around our coasts, and in our lakes and marshes. They are taken in various ways, but the most successful is said to be by means of what is termed a decoy. For this purpose some retired pond or large pool is chosen, either surrounded by a wood, or planted round with willows. Ditches or channels are made, broad towards the pool, and narrower as they retire from it. These are covered over with nets supported by large hoops. A number of wild-ducks are tamed, and trained to come at a whistle to be fed at the entrance of these decoys. Different seeds are cast into the water along these channels, and at the entrance; and when the evening sets in, the fowler whistles to his decoy Ducks, who come to be fed followed by flocks of wild ones. The former give the slip to their companions, while the latter continue to seek their food up the channel, till the net is closed at the mouth, and they thus become an easy prey.

XII.-The Frigate Bird.

THIS bird is anong the most singular of the feathered race while on the one hand its place in nature would appear, from its webbed feet, to be among the water birds

that sport on the ocean's surface, on the other hand, its rapacious habits ally it to the falcons or birds of prey that strike their quarry on the wing. The truth is, that it forms the link which unites these two extremes of a long chain of gradations, and either party may claim it with almost equal propriety. Although an ocean bird, its province is not the water, but the air; it neither swims nor dives, nor rests on the billows like the gull. Its feet are indeed webbed, but the webs are very partial: the tarsi are scarcely half an inch in length, the whole limb very short, and covered to the foot with long loose feathers; the tail is long and forked, the wings of extraordinary spread, and the general plumage deficient in that close and downy texture which always characterizes a bird whose habitation is the surface of the deep. Its conformation on the other hand as manifestly declares it to be aerial ;aerial, not with the land below on which it may repose and rest when weary-but aerial with the ocean below, on which it never rests, and which, affording it its food, does all that is required of it.

The Frigate Bird is to be met with principally between the tropics, hundreds of leagues from land, to which, except for the purpose of hatching its young, it never rcsorts. It is ever on the wing, often soaring so high as to be scarcely visible; at other times skimming at a moderate distance from the water, and darting with the rapidity of an arrow upon any unfortunate fish which approaches the surface, so as to be within reach of its beak. The flying fish are its special prey; driven by the dolphin out of the water, to trust to their fan-like wings, they are pounced upon by this voracious bird, who, not content. to limit himself to the procuring of food by his own labours, attacks gulls and other sea birds, that have just made a successful capture, and obliges them to give up their booty. In his ferocious disposition, and mode of taking his prey on the wing, as well as in the curved or hooklike termination of his beak, he resembles the falcon tribe, nor less so in the power of maintaining a rapid and lengthened flight, in which he excels every other bird. There is indeed but one purpose, that of hatching and rearing its young, for which this bird ever resorts to land; under ordinary circumstances it continues ever on the

wing over the ocean, reposing on outspread pinions in the higher regions of the air, where, without any effort, it can remain suspended. The strangeness of this fact will be removed, when the mechanical contrivance with which the bird is furnished becomes known. Beneath the throat is situated a large pouch, capable of being distended with air from the lungs, with which, as well as with the hollow bones of the wings, it immediately communicates. The bones of the wings themselves, besides being hollow, are extremely long and light, and with the pouch beneath the throat, being filled with rarified air, form an apparatus analagous to a balloon, which requires little else but the wings themselves to be spread, to be enabled by its buoyancy to sustain the weight of the body in the atmosphere. The length of the male bird, including the long forked tail, is three feet; the expanse of the wing is eight feet; the air pouch is red, and the general plumage dark brown. Its motions in the air are graceful and sweeping. It is said to build in rocks or tall trees; but of its nidification little is correctly ascertained.

XIII.-Reptiles.

Ar the head of the Reptiles stands the Tortoise Tribe. Animals of this kind have their bodies covered with a strong bony shell,—a mouth without teeth, the upper mandible closing over the lower,-four feet or fins,—and a short tail. Such as live principally in the water are called Turtles, and those that inhabit the land are called Tortoises. The Land Tortoise varies from one foot to five feet in length, and from five to eighteen inches across the back. It protrudes and conceals at pleasure its small serpent-like head under its shell. Its black languid eye has no upper lid; its dusky wrinkled neck is about four inches long when extended; its thighs are thick, curved, and spotted with red; and its exterior covering consists of a large strong piece of shell in the centre, surrounded by a number of smaller pieces strongly knit together. Animals of this kind are remarkably long-lived. One was kept in the gardens at Lambeth till it attained 120

years of age; and they are exceedingly tenacious of life; often living for months after being deprived of some of the most vital organs.

The Greek Tortoise, which inhabits Africa and Sardinia, is only about 6 inches long, and weighs 4 lb. The Greeks are very fond of its flesh and eggs, and drink its blood. The male when irritated runs and butts his head against a stone. This animal hides under ground in September, and emerges in February. The female lays four or five white eggs in holes, which she digs in warm sunny places. These are about the size of a pigeon's, and the young, which come forth after the equinoctial rains, are not larger than a walnut.

There are several species of Turtle, but the most celebrated is the Mydas, or Green Turtle. It is a native of the West Indian Seas,-when full grown it measures about five feet in length, weighs six or seven hundred weight, and is so strong that it can carry as many men as can sit upon its back. It is remarkably prolific, producing about a thousand eggs at a clutch. These it deposits in the sand, and they are hatched by the heat of the sun in about twenty-five days. The young instinctively betake themselves to the sea as soon as they have emerged from the sand. It sleeps upon its back in the water, but when laid in this position on land is not able to get upon its feet again. It has obtained the name of the Green Turtle from the colour of its fat; and Turtle soup is considered a most delicious dish by our gourmands. The flesh of some kinds of fresh-water Turtles is also considered very delicate, especially that of the Fierce Turtle, which inhabits the rivers of South America. This creature is very ferocious, and defends itself against all assailants by biting. It is about twenty inches long, and weighs about seventy pounds. The Pennsylvanian Turtle inhabits the stagnant waters of that district, and, when alive, smells of musk. It has the power of climbing up slippery banks, moving itself forward by pressing the tip. of its short tail against the ground.

Of the Dragon Tribe there is only one species,-the Flying Dragon. It is an inhabitant of Africa and India, and is about ten inches long, including the tail. Its body is ash-coloured, varied and clouded with brown and dirty