This section of the birds includes all those which are able to support
themselves upon the surface of the water. The varieties include the
gaudy Flamingos; the Albatross that frighted the ancient mariner; the
Pelicans with their pouches; the impetuous Gannets, and the remarkable
Frigate Bird. And here, too, the visitor will find the varieties of
ducks, geese, and swans, all classed in regular order. The web-footed
birds occupy no less than thirty-one cases; to each of which the
visitor should pay some attention. The first case of the series (135)
is gay with the bright red plumage of the flamingos, with their
crooked upper mandible, and their long legs and necks. The next four
cases (136-139) of the series are occupied by the varieties of the
Goose. In the first of these cases the visitor should notice the
varieties of the spur-winged goose from various parts of the world;
including the black-backed goose. In the three following cases the
white fronted and grey-legged European geese; the Canada and
Magellanic geese; and the Indian barred-headed goose; and the
cereopsis from New Holland. The stately Swans from various parts of
the world, all graceful; including the handsome black-necked swan, and
the whistling swan, occupy the three cases next in succession
(140-142). The Ducks occupy no less than eight cases; and the visitor
will linger over the beautiful varieties, without once allowing the
unkind association of green peas to enter his head. In the first four
cases (143-146) are the sub-families of the true duck, collected from
various parts of the world;--the teal from China; the whistling duck
from South America, and the European varieties of the common teal, the
widgeon, and the sheldrake. Three cases (147-149) are filled with
those sub-families of the duck which prefer the sea or the great
lakes, including the handsome red-crested European duck; the eider
duck, which is robbed of its down for the comfort of mankind;[4] the
scoter and nyroca ducks; and, in the third case, the spinous-tailed
ducks of southern climes. The arctic birds, known as the Mergansers,
are grouped in the next case (150): and, proceeding on his way, the
visitor will arrive before the cases (151-152) of Divers, from the
north, so called from the strength with which they dive for the fish
upon which they live; but their powers in this respect are not
equalled by those of a sub-family of web-footed birds, which the
visitor will presently reach. Before reaching the cases in which the
interesting sub-families of the Gulls are exhibited the visitor should
remark the varieties of the Grebes in case 152; the two following
cases devoted to the Auks from the arctic regions; and the true Auks
of Britain; the varieties of the Penguins, or marine parrots; and the
Guillemots. From these birds the visitor's way lies in the direction
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,
darted down with such strength, that its bill pierced the board. And
now the visitor should turn to contemplate the grand and solitary
Frigate Bird. This bird appears to have the power of sustaining itself
in the air for an indefinite period, and to wander with the utmost
confidence on its broad pinions, over hundreds of miles of ocean, now
and then dipping to secure its prey. This slim, pale, and solitary
wanderer must have a noble appearance, when calmly sailing upon its
great expanse of wing, a thousand miles from any resting-place, its
food floating in the element below, to be taken at will. Before
leaving the last, or most northerly apartment of the eastern
zoological gallery, the visitor would do well to notice a few of the
pictures which are suspended above the wall cases. Here are portraits
of Voltaire; the hardy Sir Francis Drake; Cosmo de Medici and his
secretary (a copy from Titian); Martin Luther; Jean Rousseau; Captain
William Dampier, by Murray; Giorgioni's Ulysses Aldrovandus; Sir Peter
Paul Kubens; the inventor of moveable type, John Guttenberg (which
would be more appropriately placed in the library); John Locke; a poor
woman, named Mary Davis, who in the seventeenth century, was
celebrated for an excrescence which grew upon her head, and finally
parted into two horns; the great Algernon Sidney; Pope; Ramsay's
portrait of the celebrated Earl of Chesterfield, who, according to Dr.
Johnson, "taught the morality of a profligate, and the manners of a
dancing master," and a landscape by Wilson. At the northern door of
this gallery are, a painting of Stonehenge, and one of the cromlech at
Plâs Newydd, in Anglesea.
The visitor's way now lies to the west out of the eastern zoological
gallery into the most southerly of the two northern galleries. This
gallery, which consists of five compartments, or rooms, is called