with that described by Wicquefort, under the title of the Alcatraz; its size, its colours, and its prey, incline me to think so. He describes it as a kind of great gull, as large in the body as a goose, of a brown colour, with a long bill, and living upon fish, of which they kill great numbers.

This bird is an inhabitant of the tropical climates, and also beyond them as far as the Straits of Magellan in the South Seas. It is one of the most fierce and formidable of the aquatic tribe, not only living upon fish, but also such small water fowl as it can take by surprise. It preys, as all the gull kind do, upon the wing; and chiefly pursues the flying-fish, that are forced from the sea by the dolphins. The ocean in that part of the world presents a very different appearance from the seas with which we are surrounded. In our seas we see nothing but a dreary expanse, ruffled by winds, and seemingly forsaken by every class of animated nature. But the tropical seas, and the distant south latitudes beyond them, are all alive with birds and fishes, pursuing and pursued. Every various species of the gull kind are there seen hovering on the wing, at a thousand miles distance from the shore. The flying-fish are every moment rising to escape from their pursuers of the deep, only to encounter equal dangers in the air. Just as they rise, the dolphin is seen to dart after them, but generally in vain; the gull has more frequent success, and often takes them at their rise; while the albatross pursues the gull, and obliges it to relinquish its prey:-so that the whole horizon presents but one living picture of rapacity and evasion.

So much is certain; but how far we are to credit Wicquefort in what he adds concerning this bird, the reader is left to determine. "As these birds, except when they breed, live entirely remote from land, so they are often seen, as it should seem, sleeping in

the air. At night, when they are pressed by slumber, they rise into the clouds as high as they can; there, putting their head under one wing, they beat the air with the other, and seem to take their ease. After a time, however, the weight of their bodies, only thus half supported, brings them down, and they are seen descending, with a pretty rapid motion, to the surface of the sea. Upon this they again put forth their efforts to rise; and thus alternately ascend and descend at their ease. But it sometimes happens," says my author, "that in these slumbring flights, they are off their guard, and fall upon deck, where they are taken."

What truth there may be in this account I will not take it upon me to determine; but certain it is, that few birds float upon the air with more ease than the albatross, or support themselves a longer time in that element. They seem never to feel the accesses of fatigue; but, night and day upon the wing, are always prowling, yet always emaciated and hungry.

But though this bird be one of the most formidable tyrants of the deep, there are some unions which even tyrants themselves form, to which they are induced either by caprice or necessity. The albatross seems to have a peculiar affection for the penguin, and a pleasure in its society. They are always seen to choose the same places for breeding-some distant, uninhabited island, where the ground slants to the sea, as the penguin is not formed either for flying or climbing. In such places their nests are seen together, as if they stood in need of mutual assistance and protection. Captain Hunt, who for some time commanded at our settlement upon Falkland Islands, assures me, that he was often amazed at the union preserved between these birds, and the regularity with which they built together. In that bleak and desolate spot, where the birds had long continu

ed undisturbed possessors, and no way dreaded the encroachment of men, they seemed to make their abode as comfortable as they expected it to be lasting. They were seen to build with an amazing degree of uniformity, their nests covering fields by thousands, and resembling a regular plantation. In the middle, on high, the albatross raised its nest, on heath, sticks, and long grass, about two feet above the surface; round this the penguins made their lower settlements, rather in holes in the ground, and most usually eight penguins to one albatross. Nothing is a stronger proof of M. Buffon's fine observation, that the presence of man not only destroys the society of meaner animals, but their instincts also. These nests are now, I am told, totally destroyed; the society is broke up; and the albatross and penguin have gone to breed upon more desert shores, in greater security.

CHAPTER IV.

THE CORMORANT.

THE Cormorant is about the size of a large Muscovy duck, and may be distinguished from all other birds of this kind, by its four toes being united by membranes together, and by the middle toe being toothed or notched, like a saw, to assist it in holding its fishy prey. The head and neck of this bird are of a sooty blackness; and the body thick and heavy, more inclining in figure to that of the goose than the gull. The bill is straight till near the end, where the upper chap bends into a hook.

But notwithstanding the seeming heaviness of its make, there are few birds more powerfully preda

VOL. IV.-E