have reached above his middle, but this was a spring tide, and brought forward by a strong westerly wind. The water had now reached him; it covered the ground on which he stood; it rippled over his feet; it gained his knees, his waist. Button after button was swallowed up, till, at length, it advanced over his very shoulders. With a palpitating heart he gave himself up for lost. Still, however, he held fast by his anchor: his eye was eagerly bent in search of some boat which might take its course that way; but none appeared. A solitary head, sometimes covered by a wave, was no object to be descried from shore at the distance of half a league. Whilst he was making up his mind to the terrors of certain destruction, his attention was called to a new object! He thought he saw the uppermost button of his coat begin to appear. No mariner could behold a cape at sea with greater transport, than he did the uppermost button of his coat! But the fluctuation of the water was such, and the turn of the tide so slow, that it was yet some time before he durst venture to assure himself, that the button was fairly above the level of the flood. At length, however, a second button appearing at intervals, his sensations may rather be conceived than described; and his joy gave him spirits and resolution to support his uneasy situation four or

five hours longer, till the waters had fully retired!".

The next great family, the DIVERS, consist of several species, for the most part local and migratory; as the puffins, auks, and guillemots; they come to rear their young upon our cliffs in particular spots; and leave us early in autumn. The noise of their various cries cannot be conceived by one who has not witnessed their myriads in the breeding season.

Among these may be ranked that dark plunderer, the CORMORANT, who remains with us

all the year. His wild and suspicious look, sombre plumage, and bold determined flight,

mark him from other birds; his upper bill is hooked over the other, so as to hold firmly his slippery prey; and he makes his nest either on the ledges of rocks or in trees; in the latter he often perches. These birds visit large waters in the inland counties, and follow up the course of our larger rivers; they sometimes take a liking to a particular spot, and appear to become attached to it for some time.

In the Severn, a few miles above Shrewsbury, there is an island with some tall trees; about twenty years ago, the persons who lived near perceived that these trees were resorted to by two or three cormorants; they remained about the spot for several months, till towards the breeding season. The cormorants returned the following autumn, bringing with them three or four more (perhaps their progeny), and they gradually increased to the number of sixteen or eighteen, which might be seen about their favourite haunt, taking their airy excursions along the course of the river, and not unfrequently passing near the village and church; at which the ancient rustics of both sexes shook their heads, and said "something would happen!" Foragers or stragglers from this colony visited the waters round in various directions. This dwelling of wild sea plunderers, sixty miles from the ocean, in the midst of an in

closed and highly cultivated country, continued many years, and a few still are occasionally seen there.

The cormorant, or corvorant, takes its name from two Latin words, signifying "the devouring crow," from his supposed rapacity; and Milton having described Satan as taking this form, his character has been unfairly decried. That accurate observer of Nature, the late Mr. Montagu, has vindicated the docility and sociable disposition of this bird, in an amusing account of one taken in a wild state, and which soon became domesticated: "It is," says this able naturalist, "extremely docile, of a grateful disposition, without the smallest tincture of a savage and vindictive spirit; and by no means possessing the bad qualities a celebrated writer would induce us to believe, by making it personify Satan. In less than a week after its capture it was perfectly familiarised, and made one in the family circle round the fire, suffering the caresses of the children. Being removed to an aquatic menagerie, it lived in perfect harmony with a whistling swan, a barnacle goose, various sorts of ducks, and other occasional birds. If it gets out, it never attempts to ramble, but, walking direct to the house, enters the first open door, without deference to any one, re

gardless even of a dog, and in fact is troublesomely tame."

The next tribe of marine birds, to which we would direct the attention of an observer, is the GULL family; under which name we include

the sea swallows, as partaking of the same general habits. These tenants of the ocean borders are in almost constant motion: their plumage, of a virgin white, or light grey, contrasts beautifully with the green waves around them.

In storms they wanton, as it were, on the wind, dipping down amid the yeasty billows, and again rising upon their buoyant wings.*

* "The zealous enquirer will find himself amply compensated for all his toil, by observing these birds coursing along the rivers and coast, enlivening the prospect by their airy movements, now skimming closely over the watery