34Ö D I V E Ri
with du(ky rufous fpots: the quills and tail are.plain brown, the
laft (hort: legs afh-colour.
Place. Suppofed to inhabit China, as I faw it among other wellpainted
drawings at Sir Jofeph Banks’s-,, it was-in the attitude of
filhing, with a brajs ring round the middle of the neck, in the
manner of the annexed figure.
From the various and uncertain accounts of authors, we are
not clear what hirds the Chineje ufe for catching, filh ; thecuftom,
however, of doing it is manifeft, from the relations of many travellers.—
The bird ufed for this purpofe- has a ring fattened
round the middle of the neck, in order to prevent its fwallowing ;
befides this it‘has a (lender long ftring fattened to it j and, thus
accoutred, is taken by its matter into his filhing-boat, from the
edge of which it is taught to plunge after the filh as they pafs
by; and as the ring prevents their patting further downwards,
they are taken from the mouth of the bird as faft as they are
caught. In this manner fometimes a great many are procured
in the courfeof a few hours. When the keeper o f the bird has
taken fufficient for himfelf, the ring is taken off, and the poor
(lave fuffered tofatisfy its own hunger *.
We do not here give this bird as the one molt commonly
ufed for the above purpofe; but have thought right to figure it,
as a fpecies, if not new, at leaft as not generally known ; andi
probably, from the circumftance of its fituation- in the painting,,
may prove one of the birds u(ed on this occafion.
* See an account of this method of filhing in Du Hetlde Hijl. China.— OJh',
Hoy. ii. p. 35. — Salmon Mod. Hijl„ i. p. 18.— Will. Orn. p. 329. and many other
authors.— For a further account of this matter confide the article Cormorant.
6 G enus
G enus LXXXVII. S K I M M E R .
N* 1. Black Sk.
V a r . A.
TH E bill in this genus is greatly compreffed; the lower
mandible much longer than the upper.
Noftrils linear and pervious.
Legs weak; back toe very fmall.
Tail forked.
Rynchops nigra, Lin. SjrJl. i. p. 228. r.
Le Bec-en-cifeaux, Brif. Orn. vi. p. 223. 1. pi. 21. fig. 2.—Bn/. Oif. viii.
p. 454. pi. 36.— PI. Enl. 357.
Coupeur d’Eau, Defer. Sarin• ii. p. 291.
Bec-de-hache, ou Pied rouge, Hiß* de la Louif. ii. p. 117.
Avis novaculse facie, the ‘Sea Crow, Rail Syn. p. r94. 5. pi. r. fig. 5.—
Piti'u, Goto. t. 76. fig. 2. (the bill.)— Edna. pi. 28t. (the bill.)
Cut-water, Catefi. Car. i. pi. 90.— Arct. Zool. N° 445.
Br. Muf. Lev. Mu/.
g j I Z E of the Black Guillemot: length twenty inches: breadth
three feet feven inches. The bill is of a Angular ftrufture,
the upper mandible being above an inch (horter than the under,
the laft four inches and a half in length ; both mandibles are
greatly compreffed on the fides; the upper (huts into the under
like a razor into its handle, and both of them very (harp on the
edges; the bafe of the bill is red, the reft black, and on the
fides of the under are feveral furrows: the forehead, chin, and
all the under parts, are white : the reft of the head, and the upper
\ Y y 2 parts
BLACK SK.
Plate in Frontispiece.
Description*