crimson spots. The young birds, covered with a grayish-white down, are assiduously attended by the parents, who are then tame, and easily approached. When alarmed, like Gulls, they as readily cast up the contents of their pouch, as those birds do of the stomach."

Genus PLOTUS: Plotus.-This includes the Darters, of which there are several species: in

these the general form of the body and feet resembles that of the cormorants; but the head is smaller, and supported upon a very long, slender neck, and the beak is perfectly straight and pointed, with the edges of the mandibles denticulated. The appearance of these birds is so singular, that some of the old voyagers regarded them as anomalous creatures, partaking of the nature of the snake and the duck; and the Hottentots are said by Levaillant to give them the name of Slange-Hals-Voogel, or Snake-necked birds. They are found in the warmer parts of the world, principally in America and Africa, where they haunt the margins of rivers and lakes, perching upon the trees, or flying over the surface until a fish comes in sight, when they immediately plunge down upon it, and rarely miss their aim. When swimming, the body is generally concealed under water, and sometimes only the head is visible. Their favorite position is upon the branches of trees overhanging the water, and when disturbed they are said to glide into the water so silently that the agitation of the waves is not greater than would be produced by an eel.

These birds, like several others of this family, are said to nidificate in trees.

The ANHINGA or SNAKE-BIRD, P. anhinga-sometimes called Water-Turkey-is two feet ten inches long; color black, with green reflections; found in the fresh waters of the South Atlantic States; also in South America as far south as Brazil. Nuttall says: "Its long and dark serpentine neck and small head, vibrating backward and forward, presents entirely the appearance of a snake, whether seen through the foliage of a tree, or emerging from the still and sluggish stream in which it often swims, with the body wholly immersed to the neck, and on being approached or startled, even that is instantly withdrawn, and sweeping beneath the flood in perfect silence, we at length see it again rise at a distance which defies approach." Another species is the P. Levaillanti of Africa, which closely resembles the preceding.

Genus PHAETON: Phaeton.-This includes the tropic birds, well known to navigators of the tropical seas, called Straw-Tails, and by the French, Paille-en-queue.

The COMMON TROPIC-BIRD, P. æthereus, seems to belong chiefly to the warmer parts of the Atlantic Ocean. Its body is about the size of a pullet, that is, thirteen inches long from the point of the bill to the insertion of the tail; the two long, narrow tail-feathers, which constitute a peculiarity of the bird, are seven inches. Thus its extreme length is about twenty inches. The plumage is white, with black, wavy lines on the back. Its wings are long, and its flight calm, composed of frequent strokes of the wing. It appears to fly by night as well as by day, and probably often continues on the wing for as much as twelve hours at a time. These birds are often seen far out at sea; in general, however, they return to the land at night. They live chiefly

within the tropics; many of them breed on the rocky islands at the east end of Porto Rico, and some on the Bermudas. They feed entirely on fish, which they capture by descending upon them and seizing them in their bills. The Smithsonian Catalogue mentions the YELLOW-BILLED TROPIC BIRD, P. flavirostris, found in the tropical regions of the Atlantic seas. There are several other species in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

This family includes the Terns or Sea-Swallows, the Shearwaters, and the True Gulls. All these birds have long wings, fly with great ease, and spend a great part of each day in hovering over the sea, generally along the shores, in search of food. They often sit on the water, where they are very buoyant, but they swim little, and are incapable of diving. They are active, noisy birds, mostly living on small fish, which they capture in skimming over the water.

Genus STERNA: Sterna.-This includes several species of Tern. The COMMON TERN OF EUROPE, S. hirundo, is fourteen inches long; ash-gray above, beneath white; builds sometimes on rocky and sometimes on low, flat, sandy islands, but always near the sea; eggs two, of a yellowish stone-color. Like the swallows of the land, it flies with great ease, and is almost the whole day on the wing, noisy, and restless, performing various graceful evolutions in the air, yet constantly looking out for the small fish on which it feeds. This species is chiefly confined to the seas of Europe; in winter it migrates to the southern latitudes.

Other species are as follows: the ARCTIC TERN, S. Arctica; found in Europe and America ; the WHISKERED TERN, S. leucopareia, found in Europe: the GULL-BILLED TERN, S. Anglica; found in Europe and North America: the MARSH TERN-S. aranea of Wilson; found on our Atlantic coast: the LESSER TERN, S. minuta, a very elegant species; found in Europe, India, and the United States: the BLACK TERN, S. fissipes, common in Europe and America: the WHITE-WINGED TERN, S. leucoptera, a handsome species with a long tail; found in Europe; the SOOTY TERN, S. fuliginosa, possessing a remarkable power of flight; found in Europe, Asia, Australia, and America; and the ROSEATE TERN, E. Douglassi; found in Europe and America.

The NODDY, S. stolida, inhabits the tropical seas, and is occasionally seen on the coasts of the United States, and also as far north as the waters of England. Audubon gives the following pleasant account of it: "About the beginning of May the noddies collect from all parts of the Gulf of Mexico and the coasts of Florida, for the purpose of returning to their breeding places on one of the Tortugas called Noddy Rug. These birds form regular nests of twigs and dry grass, which they place on the bushes or low trees, but never on the ground. On visiting their island on the 11th May, 1832, I was surprised to see that many of them were repairing and augmenting nests that had remained through the winter, while others were employed in constructing new ones, and some were already sitting on their eggs. In a great many instances the repaired nests formed masses nearly two feet in height, and yet all of them had only a slight hollow for the eggs, broken shells of which were found among the entire ones, as if they had been purposely placed there. The birds did not discontinue their labors, although there were nine or ten of us walking among the bushes; and when we had gone a few yards into the thicket, thousands of them flew quite low over us, some at times coming so close as to enable us to catch a few of them with the hand. On one side might be seen a noddy carrying a stick in its bill, or a bird picking up something from the ground to add to its nest; on the other, several were seen sitting on their eggs unconscious of danger, while their mates brought them food. The greater part rose on the wing as we advanced, but realighted as soon as we had passed. The bushes were rarely taller than ourselves, so that we could easily see the eggs in the nests. This was quite a new sight to me, and not less pleasing than unexpected.

"The noddy, like most other species of Tern, lays three eggs, which average two inches in length by an inch and three-eighths in breadth, and are of a reddish-yellow color, spotted and patched with dull red and faint purple. They afford excellent eating, and our sailors seldom failed to collect bucketfuls daily, during our stay at the Tortugas. The wreckers assured me that the young birds remain with the old ones through the winter, in which respect the noddy, if this account be correct, differs from other species, the young of which keep by themselves till spring. At the approach of a boat the noddies never flew off their island, in the manner of the Sooty Terns. They appeared to go further out to sea than those birds, in search of their food, which consists of fishes mostly caught amid the floating sea-weeds, these Terns seizing them, not by plunging perpendicularly downward, as other species do, but by skimming close over the surface in the manner of gulls, and also by alighting and swimming round the edges of the weeds. This I had abundant opportunities of seeing while on the Gulf of Mexico. The flight of this bird greatly resembles that of the night-hawk when passing over meadows and rivers. When about to alight on the water, the noddy keeps its wings extended upward, and touches it first with its feet. It swims with considerable buoyancy and grace, and at times immerses its head to seize on a fish. It does not see well by night, and it is for this reason that it frequently alights on the

spars of vessels, where it sleeps so soundly that it is often caught by the seamen. When seized in the hand it utters a rough cry, not unlike that of a young American crow taken from the nest. On such occasions it bites severely with quickly-repeated movements of the bill, which, on missing the object aimed at, closes with a snap. Some which I kept several days refused all kinds of food, became dull and languid, and at length died. While hovering over us near their nests, these birds emitted a low, querulous murmur, and if unmolested, would attempt to light on our heads. After a few visits, however, they became rather more careful of themselves, although the sitting birds often suffered us to put a hat over them."

The Catalogue of the Smithsonian Institution has the following: the CASPIAN TERN, S. Caspia; found on the coast of New Jersey: the ROYAL TERN, S. regia; found on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Southern North America: the ELEGANT TERN, S. elegans; found on coast of California : CABOT'S TERN, S. acuflavida; found in Texas and Florida: HAVELL'S TERN, S. Havelli; found from South Carolina to Texas: TRUDEAU'S TERN, S. Trudeauii; coasts of New Jersey and Long Island: WILSON'S TERN, S. Wilsoni; from Texas to Labrador: FORSTER'S TERN, S. Forsteri; from Louisiana to Labrador: and the SLENDER-BILLED TERN, S. Pikei; coast of California. This list by no means includes all the American species of this extensive race of birds.

Genus PUFFINUS: Puffinus.-This includes several species popularly called Shearwaters. These birds have forked tails, long wings, and immense powers of flight. They skim along the surface of the ocean, frequently dipping the elongated lower mandible in the water, thus scooping up the small fishes and crustacea on which they feed. They also insert their beaks into the bivalve mollusca, which chance to be open, and then beat them on the sands or rocks till they are killed, and are thus devoured at leisure. They lay their eggs in hollows in the sand, and when the young are hatched attend to them with great devotion.

The GREATER SHEARWATER, P. major, is eighteen inches long; color blackish-brown above; beneath grayish-brown. Yarrell regards it as the Wandering Shearwater of Audubon and Nuttall. It is found, though rarely, in Europe; breeds abundantly on the coast of Newfoundland. The

MANKS SHEARWATER, P. Anglorum, is fourteen inches long; found in the Atlantic, on the coasts of Europe and North America. The DUSKY SHEARWATER, P. obscurus; the SOOTY SHEARWATER, P. fuliginosus; and the CINEREOUS PETREL, P. cinereus, are other American species.

Genus RHYNCHOPS: Rhynchops, includes the BLACK SKIMMER, R. nigra; it is a bird of passage in the United States, appearing on our coasts in May. It breeds along the shores of Cape May and New Jersey, the nest consisting of a depression in the sand; the eggs are usually three. "The singular conformation of the bill of this bird," says Wilson, in a striking passage, “has excited much surprise; and some writers, measuring the divine proportions of nature by their own contracted standards of conception, in the plentitude of their vanity, have pronounced it to be ‘a lame and defective weapon. Such ignorant presumption, or rather impiety, ought to hide its head in the dust, on a calm display of the peculiar construction of this singular bird, and the wisdom by which it is so admirably adapted to the purposes or mode of existence for which it was intended. The Shearwater is formed for skimming, while on the wing, the surface of the sea for its food, which consists of small fish, shrimps, young fry, &c., whose usual haunts are near the shore and toward the surface. That the lower mandible, when dipped into and cleaving the water, might not retard the bird's way, it is thinned and sharpened like the blade of a knife; the upper mandible, being at such times elevated above water, is curtailed in its length, as being less necessary, but tapering gradually to a point, that, on shutting, it may offer less opposition. To prevent inconvenience from the rushing of the water, the mouth is confined to the mere opening of the gullet, which, indeed, prevents mastication taking place; but the stomach, or gizzard, to which this business is solely allotted, is of uncommon hardness, strength, and muscularity, far surpassing, in these respects, any other water-bird with which I am acquainted. To all these is added a vast expansion of wing, to enable the bird to sail with sufficient celerity, while dipping in the water. The general proportion of the length of our swiftest hawks and swallows to their breadth, is as one to two; but in the present case, as there is not only the resistance of the air, but also that of the water, to overcome, a still greater volume of wing is given, the Shearwater measuring nineteen inches in length, and upward of forty-four in extent. In short, whoever has attentively examined this curious apparatus, and observed the possessor, with his ample wings, long, bending neck, and lower mandible, occasionally dipped into and plowing the surface, and the facility with which he procures his food, cannot but consider it a mere playful amusement, when compared with the dashing immersions of the tern, the gull, or the fish-hawk, who, to the superficial observer, appear so superiorly accommodated.

"The Shearwater is most frequently seen skimming close along shore about the first of the flood, at which time the young fry, shrimp, &c., are most abundant in such places. There are also numerous inlets among the low islands between the sea-beach and main-land of Cape May, where I have observed the Shearwaters, eight or ten in company, passing and repassing, at high water, particular estuaries of those creeks that run up into the salt marshes, dipping, with extended neck, their open bills into the water, with as much apparent ease as swallows glean up flies from the surface. On examining the stomachs of several of these, shot at the time, they contained numbers of a small fish, usually called silver-sides, from a broad line of a glossy silver color that runs from the gills to the tail. The mouths of these inlets abound with this fry or fish, probably feeding on the various matters washed down from the marshes.

"The voice of the Shearwater is harsh and screaming, resembling that of the Tern, but stronger. It flies with a slowly-flapping flight, dipping, occasionally, with steady, expanded wings and bended neck, its lower mandible into the sea, and with open mouth receiving its food as it plows along the surface. It is rarely seen swimming on the water; but frequently rests in large parties on the sand-bars at low water. One of these birds, which I wounded in the wing, and kept in the room beside me for several days, soon became tame, and even familiar. It generally stood with its legs erect, its body horizontal, and its neck rather extended. It frequently reposed on its belly, and stretching its neck, rested its long bill on the floor. It spent most of its time in this way, or in dressing and arranging its plumage with its long, scissors-like bill, which it seemed to perform with great ease and dexterity. It refused every kind of food offered it, and I am persuaded never feeds but when on the wing."