run on the top of it; they are also excellent divers. It skims along the hollows of the waves, and through the spray upon their tops, at the astonishing rate of sixty miles in an hour. They are very clamorous, and are called by the sailors Mother Cary's Chickens, who observe they never settle or sit upon the water but when stormy weather is to be expected. They are found in most parts of the world; and in the Feroe islands, the inhabitants draw a wick through the body of the bird, from the mouth to the rump, which serves them as a candle, being fed by the vast proportion of oil which this little animal contains.

Wilson supposed the American stormy petrel to be the same as that of Europe; but Charles Bonaparte has shown that it is a distinct species. It breeds in great numbers on the shores of the Bahama and Bermuda isles, and on the coast of East Florida and Cuba. This author enumerates four species of the stormy petrel.

Is one of the largest and most formidable birds of Africa and South America. The largest, which is called the wandering albatross,1 is rather larger than

'Diomedea exulans, LIN. The genus Diomedea has the bill very long, stout, edged, compressed, straight, suddenly curved; upper mandible channelled on the sides, and much hooked at the point, the under smooth, and truncated at the extremity; nostrils lateral, remote from the base, tubular, covered on the sides, and open in front; legs short, with only three very long toes entirely webbed; the lateral one margined; wings very long and narrow, with the primary quills short, and the secondaries long.

a swan, and its wings, when extended, ten feet from tip to tip. The bill, which is six inches long, is yellowish, and terminates in a crooked point. The top of the head is of a bright brown; the back is of a dirty, deep spotted brown; and the belly, and under the wings, is white. The toes, which are webbed, are of a flesh color.

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 not only eats fish, but also such small water-fowl as it can take by surprise. It preys, as the gull kind do, upon the wing, and chiefly pursues the flying fish that are forced from the sea by the dolphins.

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 of 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. In the middle, on high, the albatross raises its nest on heath, sticks, and long grass, about two feet above the surface; and round this the penguins make their lower settlements, rather in holes in the ground; and most usually eight penguins to one albatross.

There are about three other species of albatross, all of them smaller than the preceding. The upper parts of the plumage are a dusky blue black, and the rump and under parts white; but what peculiarly distinguishes it is, that the bill, which is four inches long, is black, all but the upper ridge, which is yellow quite to the tip. It inhabits the South seas within the tropics.

THE AMERICAN WILD GOOSE.i

THIS is a bird universally known over the whole country, and whose regular periodical migrations are the sure signals of returning spring, or approaching winter. I have never yet visited, says Wilson, any quarter of the country, where the inhabitants are not familiarly acquainted with the passing and repassing of the wild geese. The general opinion here is, that they are on their way to the lakes to breed; but the inhabitants on the con

1 Anas canadensis, LIN. The genus Anas has the bill middle-sized, robust, straight, more or less depressed, covered by a thin skin, often deeper than broad at the base, which is furnished with a fleshy tubercle, or smooth; always depressed towards the tip, which is obtuse and furnished with a nail; edges of both mandibles divided into conical or flat lamellated teeth; nostrils almost at the surface of the bill, at some distance from the base, ovoid, half closed by the flat membrane that covers the nasal furrow; legs short, feathered to the knee, and placed near the abdomen; the three fore toes webbed; the hinder detached, and either destitute of a web, or having only a rudimentary one.

fines of the great lakes are equally ignorant with ourselves of the particular breeding places of these birds. There, their journey north is but commencing, and how far it extends it is impossible for us at present to ascertain. They were seen by Hearne in large flocks within the arctic circle, and were then pursuing their way still farther north. They have been seen, also, on the dreary coast of Spitsbergen, feeding on the water's edge. It is highly probable that they extend their migrations under the very pole itself, amid the silent desolation of unknown countries, shut out from the eye of man by everlasting barriers of ice. That such places abound with suitable food, we cannot for a moment doubt.

The flight of the wild geese is heavy and laborious, generally in a straight line, or in two lines approximating to a point: In both cases, the van is led by an old gander, who every now and then pipes his well known houk, as if to ask how they come on; and the houk of "all's well," is generally returned by some of the party. When bewildered in foggy weather, they appear sometimes to be in great distress, flying about in an irregular manner, making a great clamor. On these occasions, should they alight on the earth, as they sometimes do, they meet with speedy death and destruction. The autumnal flight lasts from the middle of August to the middle of October; the vernal flight from the middle of April to the middle of May.

Wounded geese have frequently been domesticated, and readily pair with tame geese. On the approach of spring, however, they discover symptoms of great uneasiness, frequently looking up into the air, and attempting to go off. Some, whose wings have been closely cut, have travelled on foot in a northerly direction, and have been found at a distance of several miles from

home. They hail every flock that passes overhead, and the salute is sure to be returned by the voyagers, who are only prevented from alighting among them, by the presence and habitations of man. The gunners sometimes take one or two of these domesticated geese with them to those places over which the wild ones are accustomed to fly; and concealing themselves, wait for a flight, which is no sooner perceived by the decoy geese, than they begin calling aloud, until the flock approaches so near, that the gunners are enabled to make great havoc among them with their musket shot.

The English at Hudson's Bay depend greatly on geese, and in favorable seasons kill three or four thousand, and barrel them up for use. They send out their servants, as well as Indians, to kill them on their passage. They mimic the cackle of geese so well, that many of them are allured to the spot where they are concealed, and are thus easily shot. When in good order, the wild goose weighs from ten to fourteen pounds, and is estimated to yield half a pound of feathers. It is domesticated in numerous quarters of the country, and is remarked for being extremely watchful, and more sensible of approaching changes in the atmosphere than the common gray goose. In England, France and Germany, they have been long ago domesticated.

Mr Platt, a respectable farmer on Long Island, being out shooting in one of the bays which in that part of the country abound in water-fowl, wounded a wild goose. Being unable to fly, he caught it and brought it home alive. It proved to be a female, and turning it into his yard with a flock of tame geese, it soon became quite familiar, and in a little time its wounded wing entirely healed. In the following spring, when the wild geese migrate to the northward, a flock passed over Mr Platt's barn-yard, and just at that moment, their leader happening to sound the bugle note, our goose, in whom its new habits and enjoyments had not quite extinguished the love of liberty, and remembering the well-known sound, spread its wings, mounted into the air, joined the travellers, and soon disappeared. In the succeeding autumn, the wild geese, as usual, returned from the northward in great numbers, to pass the winter in our bays and rivers. Mr Platt happened to be standing in his yard, when a flock passed directly over his barn. At that instant, he observed three geese detach themselves from the rest, and after wheeling round several times, alight in the middle of the yard. Imagine his surprise and pleasure, when, by certain well remembered signs, he recognised in one of the three his long-lost fugitive. It was she indeed! She had travelled many hundred miles to the lakes; had there hatched and reared her offspring; and had now returned with her little family, to share with them the sweets of civilized life.

THE EUROPEAN WILD GOOSE.!

THE wild goose, or gray lag, always retains the same marks: the whole upper part is ash colored; the breast and belly are of a dirty white; the bill is narrow at the base, and at the tip it is black; the legs are of a saffron color, and the claws black. It frequently weighs about ten pounds.

The wild goose is supposed to breed in the northern parts of Europe, and, in the beginning of winter, to descend into more temperate regions. If they come to the ground by day, they range themselves in a line, like cranes; and seem rather to have descended for rest, than for other refreshment. When they have sat in this manner for an hour or two, we have heard one of them, with a loud, long note, sound a kind of charge, to which the rest punctually attended, and they pursued their journey with renewed alacrity. ' Their flight is very regularly arranged; they either go in a line abreast, or in two lines, joining in an angle in the middle.

The common tame goose is nothing more than this goose in a state of domestication. The tame goose is sometimes white, and generally varies between white and gray,

There are also the barnacle goose, the brant goose,3 the bear goose,4 and a variety of others.

THE SWAN.5

So much difference is there between this bird, when on land and in the water, that it is hardly to be supposed the same, for in the latter, no bird can possibly exceed it for beauty and majestic appearance. When it ascends from its favorite element, its motions are awkward, and its neck is stretched forward with an air of stupidity; it has, indeed, the air of being only a larger sort of goose; but when seen smoothly gliding along the water, displays a thousand graceful attitudes, and moving at pleasure without the smallest apparent effort, there is not a more beautiful figure in all nature. In its form, we find no broken or harsh lines; in its motions, nothing constrained or abrupt, but the roundest contours, and the easiest transitions; the eye wanders over the whole with unalloyed pleasure, and, with every change of position, every part assumes a new grace. It will swim faster than a man can walk.

This bird has long been rendered domestic; and it is now doubtful whether there be any of the tame kind in a state of nature. The color of the tame swan is entirely white, and it generally weighs full twenty pounds. Under

1 Anas anser, LIN.
4 Anas segetum, GMEL.

3 Anas bernicla, LIN.

2 Anas leucopsis, TEMM.

5 Anas olor, LIN.