dart, and, with an almost unerring certainty, seize the victim; then emerging with the fish across the bill, with a kind of twirl throw it up into the air, and dexterously catching it head foremost, swallow it whole." *

The cormorant, with all its requisites for depredation, is still liable to an inconvenience which many other diving birds do not experience; which is, that its plumage, when kept long in the water, becomes soaked, and the bird has then to betake itself to the rocks, and spread out its wings to dry in the breeze or in the sunshine. The plumage in many diving birds, on the contrary, is quite impenetrable to water; and in some species, especially in the grebes, and birds of the Colymbus genus, is so thick and silky, that their skins sell for considerable sums, and are used for forming muffs, tippets, and other articles of dress. These species, however, cannot swallow fishes of considerable size; and perhaps it may be that the plumage of the cormorant, by becoming moist, obliges it to leave the water before gorging to such an excess as might prove fatal to it. This, however, I offer only as a conjecture; but that the cormorant does gluttonise to satiety is

* Bewick's British Birds, vol. ii. p. 382.

evident, from the circumstance, that it is sometimes so much surfeited as to let itself be taken by a noose cast round its neck: its gluttony, indeed, as every one knows, is proverbial. The following figure (fig. 17.) represents

the speckled diver; and you will remark how far backwards its legs are placed, and how well the whole conformation of the bird is fitted for diving. In the figure of the great crested grebe at the head of this letter, and in that of the puffin, or coulterneb, at the end, you will perceive a similar adaptation. But well fitted for an aquatic life as these are, there are some species still more so; as you will find in the history of the penguin tribe, in many of which the wings are so small, and covered with such scale-like feathers, that they more resemble the

fins of a fish than the wings of a bird. In these, also, the feet are placed very far back, and their action must be most powerful; but in addition, the bird, in diving, uses its wings also, just as if it were flying in air; and you may readily conceive, that, by the impulse received from both wings and feet, the motion of the penguin through the water must be extremely rapid.

Let me now bring to your recollection what, I suppose, you have witnessed more than oncethe cruel sport (as it is called) of duck-hunting. You will remember, that when the dog has got so near the duck that the latter is in danger of being seized, it plunges beneath the surface, and again appears, after several seconds, at a considerable distance from the place where it went down. The results of this manœuvre may be more than one: the dog may be bewildered, and consequently halt in the pursuit; or the duck may change the direction of its course, and on re-appearing may elude his eye, and thereby gain time. But I wish you to enquire whether a bird, in diving, will, by a similar impulse, move actually faster than it would in swimming. Does a cormorant, or a duck, or a grebe, move more rapidly under the surface of water than

evident, from the circumstance, that it is sometimes so much surfeited as to let itself be taken by a noose cast round its neck: its gluttony, indeed, as every one knows, is proverbial. The following figure (fig. 17.) represents

the speckled diver; and you will remark how far backwards its legs are placed, and how well the whole conformation of the bird is fitted for diving. In the figure of the great crested grebe at the head of this letter, and in that of the puffin, or coulterneb, at the end, you will perceive a similar adaptation. But well fitted for an aquatic life as these are, there are some species still more so; as you will find in the history of the penguin tribe, in many of which the wings are so small, and covered with such scale-like feathers, that they more resemble the

fins of a fish than the wings of a bird. In these, also, the feet are placed very far back, and their action must be most powerful; but in addition, the bird, in diving, uses its wings also, just as if it were flying in air; and you may readily conceive, that, by the impulse received from both wings and feet, the motion of the penguin through the water must be extremely rapid.

Let me now bring to your recollection what, I suppose, you have witnessed more than oncethe cruel sport (as it is called) of duck-hunting. You will remember, that when the dog has got so near the duck that the latter is in danger of being seized, it plunges beneath the surface, and again appears, after several seconds, at a considerable distance from the place where it went down. The results of this manœuvre may be more than one: the dog may be bewildered, and consequently halt in the pursuit; or the duck may change the direction of its course, and on re-appearing may elude his eye, and thereby gain time. But I wish you to enquire whether a bird, in diving, will, by a similar impulse, move actually faster than it would in swimming. Does a cormorant, or a duck, or a grebe, move more rapidly under the surface of water than