of the six cases (155-160) in which the sub-families of the gulls are
grouped. The contents of the first cases will at once strike him: here
are the Petrels, and the associations of shipwreck and disaster with
which they have ever been connected. The group includes the stormy
petrel, and the albatross. They have an altogether wild and singular
appearance. The true gulls of every sea are grouped in the next three
cases (157-159): they come from the ice of the polar seas, and from
our own shores, including the kittiwake gull, and the European
black-backed gull. The last case of the gull family (160) is given to
the Terns, which are caught in all parts of the world; and the
Skimmers, so called from the dexterity with which they skim the
surface of the water, keeping the under mandible immersed, and the
upper dry, in search of prey. Next to the gulls are placed the Tropic
Birds (161), the name of which indicates their native clime. These
birds prey upon fish; some, as the red-tailed tropic bird, darting
upon the flying-fish; and others, as the darters, boldly plunging into
the tide from overhanging boughs, in search of their favourite prey;
here, too, is the common Cormorant. Four more cases remain for
examination, and then the visitor will have closed his inspection of
the museum specimens of birds. These four cases contain, however, one
or two birds, the habits of which are singular. First, there are the
Pelicans with their capacious pouches. The rapidity with which these
birds swallow small fish has been witnessed by most people at our
Zoological Gardens. The visitor should notice next, the European
Gannet, of which strange stories of strength and prowess are related.
The velocity with which they dive in search of food has been variously
estimated. It is said that on the coast of Scotland, fishermen have
found them entangled in their nets at the extraordinary depth of a
hundred and twenty feet below the surface. Pennant relates a story of
a bird, which, on seeing some pilchards lying upon a floating plank,