CHAPTER VIII. Duck Tribe-Management of-Chinese mode.-Wild Ducks building in trees-Affection of. CHAPTER IX. Pinnipedes Swimming feet.—Pelican— Fable of drawing its blood explained-Mode of fish- ing.-Sea-Birds feeding on fish thrown up by Whales. - Cormorants Voracity of - May be tamed- Fierceness of.—Frigate-Bird.—Solan Goose—Light- ness and buoyancy of-Nests.-Anhingas or Darters. 207 CHAPTER X. Longipennes-Long-winged. -Skimmers -Singular bill.-Terns, or Sea-Swallows-Anecdote of.-Gulls-Capacity for enduring cold-Voracious feeders-Breeding-places.-South Stack described. -Albatross-Roaming habits.-Tristan D'Acunha, Resort for breeding-Voracity.-Petrels-Nests— Feed at night-Superstition of sailors respecting.- Brevipennes - Short-winged. Divers. Crested SKETCHES OF BIRDS. CHAPTER I. OF. PASSERINE ORDER CONTINUED.-CONIROSTRAS.-CONI- INSECTS. TABLE X. Order 2. PASSERINE. THERE are seven genera of this tribe, of which four are foreign: it is the most numerous, perhaps, of all the divisions, including, as it does, that host of hardbilled birds, of infinite variety, from the Starling down to the Sparrow, which is scattered so widely over the face of the globe. To pretend to enumerate them in a work of this kind, would be impossible, and we shall therefore confine ourselves to a few anecdotes, illustrating the habits of some of those species which are most familiarly known. We have placed the Starling at the head of them, as being one of the connecting links between the Grackles and Thrush genera of the preceding table, and those of the present. There is one other bird, the Golden-Oriole, indeed, which is a more closely connecting link, and might, without impropriety, be VOL. II. B |