The tail is short and forked. It inhabits all America; is commonly on the wing, and skims along the surface to catch the small fish on which it feeds. It is frequently known by the name of the razor-bill.

THE GREAT TERN1

Is about fourteen inches long, and weighs four ounces and a quarter. The bill and feet are a fine crimson; the former is tipped with black, and very slender. The back of the head is black; the upper part of the body a pale gray, and the under part white. These birds have been called sea swallows, as they appear to have all the same actions at sea that the swallow has at land, seizing every insect which appears on the surface, and darting down upon the smaller fishes, which they seize with incredible rapidity.

THE LESSER TER N2

WEIGHS only two ounces and five grains. The bill is yellow; and from the eyes to the bill is a black line. In other respects, it almost exactly resembles the preceding.

1 Sterna hirundo, LIN. The genus Sterna has the bill as long as, or longer than the head, almost straight, compressed, slender, edged, and pointed; mandibles of equal length, the upper slightly sloping towards the tip; nostrils in the middle of the bill longitudinally cleft and pervious; legs small, naked above the knee; tarsus very short, the three anterior toes connected by a membrane, the hinder detached; tail more or less forked; wings very long, and pointed.

2 Sterna minuta, LIN.

Among the foreign birds of the tern genus, there are some found of a snowy white; but the most singular bird of this kind is the striated tern,

which is found at New Zealand. It is thirteen inches in length. The bill is black, and the body in general mottled, or rather striped with black and white.

Is about fifteen inches long. The bill is black, and two inches long, and the whole plumage a sooty brown, except the top of the head, which is white. It is a very common bird in the tropical seas, where it is known frequently to fly on board ships, and is taken with the hand. But though it be thus stupid, it bites the fingers severely, so as to make it unsafe to hold it. It is said to breed in the Bahama Islands.

THE GULL,2

AND all its varieties, is well known to most readers. It is seen with slow sailing flight hovering over rivers, to prey upon the smaller kinds of fish; it is seen following the ploughman in fallow fields to pick up insects; and

1 Sterna stolida, LATH.

2 The genus Larus, which comprises most of the gulls has the bill long, or middlesized, strong, hard, compressed, edged, bent toward the tip; lower mandible angulated near the point; nostrils lateral, in the middle of the bill, longitudinally cleft, straight, and pervious; legs slender, naked above the knee; tarsus long; three fore toes quite webbed, the hinder free, short, placed high on the tarsus; tail feathers of equal length; wings long.

when living animal food is not to be found, it has even been known to eat carrion, and whatever else offers of the kind.

Of the gull there are about nineteen species. The largest with which we are acquainted is, the black and white or black-backed gull. It generally weighs upwards of four pounds, and is twenty-five or twenty-six inches from the point of the bill to the end of the tail; and from the tip of each wing, when extended, five feet and several inches. The bill appears compressed sideways, being more than three inches long, and hooked towards the end, like the rest of this kind, of a sort of orange color; the nostrils are of an oblong form; the mouth is wide, with a long tongue, and very open gullet.

The irides of the eyes are of a delightful red. The wings and the middle of the back are black; only the tips of the covert and quill feathers are white. The head, breast, tail, and other parts of the body, are likewise white. The tail is near six inches long, the legs and feet are flesh-colored, and the claws black. There are about twenty varieties of this tribe, which are all distinguished by an angular knob on the chap.

Gulls are found in great plenty in every place; but it is chiefly round the rockiest shores, that they are seen in the greatest abundance; it is there that the gull breeds and brings up its young; it is there that millions of them are heard screaming with discordant notes for months together.

THE PETREL.

THE Whole genus of petrels are known by having, instead of a back toe, only a sharp spur or nail; they have also a faculty of spouting from their bills, to a considerable distance, a large quantity of pure oil, which they do, by way of defence, into the face of any person who attempts to take them.

Is the largest of the kind which is known in Europe. It is superior to the size of the common gull, being about fifteen inches in length, and in weight seventeen ounces. The bill is very strong, yellow, and hooked at the end. The head, neck, and all the under parts of the body, are white; the back and wings ash-colored, the quills dusky, and the tail white. It feeds on the blubber of whales, which supplies the reservoir, whence it spouts, with a constant stock of ammunition. This oil is esteemed by the inhabitants of the north, as a sovereign remedy in many complaints, both external and internal. The flesh is also considered by them as a delicacy, and the bird is therefore in great request at St Kilda. When a whale is taken, these birds will, in defiance of all endeavors, light upon it, and pick out large lumps of fat, even while it is alive.

1 Procellaria glacialis, LIN. The genus Procellaria has the bill as long as, or longer than the head, very hard, edged, depressed, and dilated at the base; the tip compressed, and arched, both mandibles channelled, and abruptly inflected towards the extremity; nostrils prominent at the surface of the bill, united, and concealed in a tube which either forms a single opening, or exhibits two distinct openings; legs middle sized, often long, slender; the tarsi compressed; the three front toes entirely webbed and long, and the hinder represented by a pointed claw; wings long.

THE SHEARWATER, OR MANKS PUFFIN,'

As it is called by Willoughby, is something smaller than the preceding The head and all the upper part of the body are of a sooty blackness; and the under part, and inner coverts of the wings, white. These birds are found in the Isle of Man, and the Scilly isles. In February, they take a short possession of the rabbit burrows, and then disappear till April; they lay one egg, and in a short time the young are fit to be taken. They are then salted and barrelled. During the day, they keep at sea, fishing, and towards evening return to their young, whom they feed, by discharging the contents of the stomach into their mouths.

Is about the size of a house swallow. The general color of the plumage is black, except about the rump, which is white. They are always to be found on the shores of Britain, and seem to be diffused all over the world. They sometimes hover over the water like swallows, and sometimes appear to 2 Procellaria pelagica, LIN.

1 Procellaria Anglorum, TEM.