The Sumter watchman. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1855-1881, 1870-04-27
H1STORY..SWMlM
BIRDS.

swimmers, are curious and valuable
order in the economy Of nature. Their
most striking character is derived from
the structure of the feet, which are
furnished with web, between the toes.
These webbed feet are the principal
agents by. which the birds propel them
selves through the water, upon the sur.
face of which most of them spend much
of their lives and by the same means
many species dive their long hooks far
below the surface in search of their
food, which consists almost entirsly of
fish aud aquatic animals. Their bodies
are of a boat like folm, so as to cut the
water with ease their plumage is close
and downy, and made water proof by
greasy secretion constantly flowing from
glands-somewhat like the eye is mois-
ted by tho tear seoretions. The wings
are developed in various degrees. In
the penguins they resemble fins, hav-
ing no quilts and being covered with
scaly skin in other species the wings
are huge and powerful, SO that these
latter birds pass most of their time in
tho air.
Most of these birds live in large So
oieties, inhabiting high northorn and
southern latitudes. Many of them pre-
fer rocky coasts, in tho clefts and cran-
nies OF which they lay their eggs, often
on the bare rocx, but generally in the
most inaccessible places. The nest is
always of a rude description; bit some
species have the instinct to attach their
nests to aquatic plants, so that although
securely anchored it may yet rise or
fall with the tide
The immense number of these water.
fowl absolutely battles comprehension.
Not only the rivers aud lakes-espe.
cially those remote from the abodes of
man-teem with them, but the bound
less shores of the ocean are pcopled
with multitudes beyond number. On
numerous islands they have heaped up
mountains of guano, at times q hundred
feet thick, affording beds of compost of
incalculable value.
An American traveller gives a vivid
description Of these immense collections
of eea fowl on Ailsa Craig, an island on
the west of Scotland -
"Thc Steamer kept nearing tho giant
Craig, which was bare rock from SUM-
NIT to sea (900 feet high), and all of a
dull, chalky whiteness, occasioned, as
the captain said, by the excrement of
the birds. We had got so near as to
Sec the white birds fitting across the
black entrances of the caverns, like
birds about the hive. With the spy
glass We could see them distinctly, aud
in very considerable numbers, and ct
length approached SO that we could see
them OH the ledgos all over the sides of
the mountain. We had passed the
skirt of the Craig, and were within
half milo, or less, of it's base. With
the glass we could now see the entire
mountain side pcopled with the sea fowl,
and could here their whimpering.
household cry as they moved about or
nestled in domestic snugness on the
ten thousand lcdg The air, too,
about the prccipiccs seemed to be alive
with them. Still We had not the
slightest conception Of their frightful
multitude. We got about against the
centre of the mountain, when the swivel
was purposcly fired. The shot went
point blank against it and struck the
tremendous precipice as from top to bot
tom, with revcrberation liko the dis
charge of hundred cannon. And what
sight followed (! They rose up from
that mountain-the countless myriads
and millions of sea birds-in univer-
sal, overwhelming cloud that covered
the whole heavens, and their cry was
like the cry of an alarmed nation. Up
they went-miilions upon millions
ascending like the smoke ola furnace
countless as the sands on the sea-shore
awful, dreadful for multitude, as if
the whole mountain were dissolving
into life and light, and with an uncarth-
ly kind of lament, took up their line
of march in every direction off to sea {!
The sight startled the people on board
the steamer, who had often witnessed
it before, and for somc minutes there
was general quietness. For our own
part, we were quite amazed and over
awed at the spectacle. We had seen
nothing like it ever before. We had
seen White Mountain Notches and Nj
agara Falls in our own land, and the
vastness Of the wide and deep ocean
which was then separating us from it,
We had seen something of arts magni-
ficencc in tho old world, its cloud-cap.
ped towers, its gorgeous palaces aud
solemn temples; but We had never
witnessed sublimity to be compared to
that rising ofsea birds from Ailsa Craig.
They were Of countless varieties, in kind
and size, from the largest goose to the
smallest marsh. bird, and Of every con-
ceivable variety of dismal note. of
they moved, in wild and alarmed route,
like people going into exile, filing
the air far aud wide with their reproach-
full lament at the wanton cruelty that
hae broken them up and driven them
into captivity. We really felt remorse
at it, and the thought might have oc-
Cured to us, how easy it would have
been for them, if they had known that
the little smoking speck that was labor
inO a1onO tho Sea aurfaca enaokh thop,