The Gull, the petrel, the tern, have all nearly the same habits, the same nature, and are caught in the same manner; that is, at the most imminent risk, and with the loss of many lives in the course of a season.

But of this dangerous sport a more particular description will perhaps be acceptable to the reader. Those who have been upon the British coasts know that there are two different kinds of shores; that which slopes towards the water with a gentle declivity, and that which rises with a precipitate boldness, and appears as a bulwark to repel the force of the invading deep. It is to such shores as these that the vast variety of seafowl resort, and in the cavities of these rocks they breed in safety. Of the tremendous sublimity of these elevations it is not easy to form an idea. The boasted works of art, the highest towers, the noblest domes, are but ant-hills, when put in comparison; the single cavity of a rock often exhibits a coping higher than the ceiling of a Gothic cathedral. What should we think of a precipice three quarters of a mile in height? and yet the rocks of St. Kilda are still higher! What must be our awe to approach the edge of that impending height, and to Look down on the unfathomable vacuity below! To ponder on the terrors of falling to the bottom, where the waves, that swell like mountains, are scarcely seen to curl on the surface, and the roar of the ocean appears softer than the murmur of a brook! It is in these formidable mansions that myriads of seafowls are ever seen sporting. To the spectator from above, those birds, though some of them above the size of an eagle, seem scarcely as large as a swallow: and their loudest screaming is scarce perceptible. Yet even here these animals are not in perfect security from the arts and activity of man. Want, which is the great spring of human exertion, can force the cottager to tempt the most formidable dangers, and to put forth an en

deavour almost beyond the force of man. When the prec pice is to be assailed from below, the fowlers furnish them selves with poles of five or six ells in length, with a hoo at the end, and fixing one of these poles in the girdle the person who is to ascend, his companions, in a boat, on a projection of the cliff, assist his progress till he pro cures a firm footing. When this is accomplished, he draw the others up with a rope, and another man is forwarde again by means of the pole to a higher station. Frequent ly the person who is in the highest situation holds anothe man suspended by a rope, and directs his course to the place where the birds have placed their nests. It unfor tunately too often happens that the man who holds the rope has not a footing sufficiently secure, and in that cas both of them inevitably perish.

Some precipices are so abrupt, that they are not by any means to be ascended from below. In this case a rope i provided of eighty or a hundred fathoms long, which on of the fowlers fastens to his waist, and between his legs in such a manner as to support him in a sitting posture The rope is held by five or six persons on the top, and i slides upon a piece of wood, which is laid so as to projec beyond the precipice. By means of this apparatus, the man is gradually let down, and he attacks the habitation of the feathered race with the most sanguinary success This operation is, however, not without its dangers. By the descent and friction of the rope the loose stones are fu riously hurled down on every side. To defend himsel from their blows, the fowler covers his head with a kind of helmet, or with a seaman's shaggy cap. Many, however lose their lives by this kind of accident. Those who are unskilful, frequently suffer by a giddiness with which they are seized, on beholding themselves suspended from this tremendous height: he, on the other hand, who is accus

THE GULL KIND....THE MERGANSER KIND.

23

tomed to the sport, swings himself about with amazing dexterity; he directs his attack to that part of the rock which promises the amplest success; with his fowling staff he strikes the game as it proceeds out of the holes; he occasionally disengages himself from the rope by which he was suspended; he roams through the cavities of the rock, and when he has provided himself with a sufficient booty, he gives the signal to his companions, and is again drawn up, when the festivity of the evening, among these poor and desperate adventurers, generally compensates for the fatigues and dangers of the day.

THE MERGANSER GENUS

INCLUDES only about six species, in all of which the bill is slender, and furnished at the end with a crooked nail, and grated or toothed both upper and under chap like a saw. The largest of the kind is the GOOSEANDER,* which weighs about four pounds. The bill is red; the head very full of feathers on the top and back part. The plumage is various and beautiful. The head and upper parts are fine glossy black, the rump and tail ash colour, and the under parts of the neck and body a fine pale yellow. Its manners and appetites entirely resemble those of the diFer. It feeds upon fish, for which it dives; it is said to build its nest upon trees, like the heron and the corForant.

The DUN DIVER is less than the gooseander. The upper part of the head is reddish brown; the back and wings ash colour; and the lower parts of the body white. It is

*This bird is a winter inhabitant only, of the sea shores, fresh walakes and rivers of the United Sates. It comes in November, and disappears in April. We have no account of their manner of breeding.

found in the same places and has the same manners wit the gooseander. The RED-BREASTED MERGANSER is sti smaller, weighing only two pounds. The head and nec are black, glossed with green; the rest of the neck an the belly white: the upper part of the back is glossy black the lower parts and the rump are striated with brown an pale gray on the wings there are white bars tipped wit black, and the breast is reddish, mixed with black an white. The plumage of the female is less splendid; an they differ in another respect, viz. that the male has very full and large crest, the female only the rudiment one.. It is common on the shores of the United States a well as in Europe.

MEASURES eighteen inches from the point of the bill to th extremity. It has a fine crest upon the head, which fall down towards the back part of it, under which, on eac side of the head, is a black spot: the rest of the head an neck, and the under parts of the body, are white; the bac and the wings are a pleasing mixture of black and white The tail is about three inches long, of a kind of dusky as colour, the feathers on each side shortening gradually

MERGANSER GENUS....DUCK GENUS.

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The female has no crest; the sides of the head red; the wings of a dusky ash colour; the throat is white. In other respects it agrees with the male.

The MINUTE MERGANSER is still less than the smew. The head is slightly crested, and of a rust colour; the back and tail are of a dusky ash colour; the breast mottled, and the belly white.

The HOODED MERGANSER is a native of North America, and peculiar to that country. It is common on the coasts of New England, and breeds in the arctic regions. It is about the size of a widgeon. The head and neck are dark brown, the former surrounded with a large round crest, the middle of which is white. The back and quills are black, the tail dusky; and the breast and belly white, undulated with black. The female is fainter in the colour of her plumage, and has a smaller crest.

THE DUCK GENUS

EMBRACES one hundred species, infinitely differing in size and plumage; many of them are rendered domestic, but a still greater proportion are in their native untamed state. All the species are distinguished by their strong flat bill, furnished at the end with an additional piece, termed a nail, and marked at the edges with lamellæ, or teeth.

Though these birds do not reject animal food when offered them, yet they can contentedly subsist upon vegetables, and seldom seek any other. They are easily provided for; wherever there is water there seems to be plenty. All the other web-footed tribes are continually voracious, continually preying. These lead more harmless lives: the weeds on the surface of the water, or the insects at the bottom, the grass by the bank, or the fruits and corn in cultivated grounds, are sufficient to satisfy their easy appetites.