times swims down the current, till it even reaches the sea. In this voyage these birds encounter a thousand dangers: as they cannot fly far, they are hunted by dogs and men; as they never leave the stream, they are attacked and destroyed by otters; they are preyed upon by kites and falcons; and they are taken, in still greater numbers, in weirs made for catching fish; for these birds are led into the nets while pursuing small fish and insects, which are their principal food. Thus animated nature affords a picture of universal invasion! Man destroys the otter, the otter destroys the coot, the coot feeds upon fish, and fish are universally the tyrants of each other! To these birds, with long legs and finny toes, I will add one species more, with short legs and finny toes I mean the Grebe. The entire resemblance of this bird's appetites and manners to those of the web-footed class, might justly induce me to rank it among them; but as it resembles those above described in the peculiar form of its toes, and bears some similitude in its manners also, I will for once sacrifice method to brevity. The grebe is much larger than either of the former, and its plumage white and black: it differs also entirely in the shortness of its legs, which are made for swimming, and not walking: in fact, they are from the knee upward hid in the belly of the bird, and have consequently very little motion. By this mark, and by the scolloped fringe of the toes, may this bird be easily distinguished from all others. As they are thus, from the shortness of their wings, ill formed for flying, and from the uncommon shortness of their legs utterly unfitted for walking, they seldom leave the water, and chiefly frequent those broad shallow pools where their faculty of swimming can be turned to the greatest advantage in fishing and seeking their prey. They are chiefly, in this country, seen to frequent the meres of Shropshire and Cheshire; where they breed among reeds and flags, in a floating nest, kept steady by the weeds of the margin. The female is said to be a careful nurse of its young, being observed to feed them most assiduously with small eels; and when the little brood is tired, the mother will carry them, either on her back or under her wings. This bird preys upon fish, and is almost perpetually diving. It does not show much more than the head above water; and is very difficult to be shot, as it darts down on the appearance of the least danger. It is never seen on land; and, though disturbed ever so often, will not leave that lake, where alone, by diving and swimming, it can find food and security. It is chiefly sought for the skin of its breast, the plumage of which is of a most beautiful silvery white, and as glossy as satin. This part is made into tippets; but the skins are out of season about February, losing their bright colour; and in breeding time their breasts are entirely bare. PART VI. OF WATER FOWL. CHAPTER I. OF WATER FOWL IN GENERAL. IN settling the distinctions among the other classes of birds, there was some difficulty; one tribe encroached so nearly upon the nature and habitudes of another, that it was not easy to draw the line which kept them asunder; but in water fowl nature has marked them for us by a variety of indelible characters; so that it would be almost as unlikely to mistake a land fowl for one adapted for living and swimming among the waters, as a fish for a bird. The first great distinction in this class appears in the toes, which are webbed together for swimming. Those who have remarked the feet or toes of a duck, will easily conceive how admirably they are formed for making way in the water. When men swim, they do not open the fingers, so as to let the fluid pass through them; but closing them together, present one broad surface to beat back the water, and thus push their bodies along, What man performs by art, nature has supplied to water fowl, and by broad skins has webbed their toes together, so that they expand two broad oars to the water; and thus, moving them alternately, with the greatest ease paddle along. We must observe also, that the toes are so contrived, that, as they strike backward, their broadest hollow surface beats the water; but as they gather them in again for a second blow, their front surface contracts, and does not impede the bird's progressive motion. As their toes are webbed in the most convenient manner, so are their legs also made most fitly for swift progression in the water. The legs of all are short, except the three birds described in a former chapter; namely, the flamingo, the avosetta, and the corrira; all which, for that reason, I have thought proper to rank among the crane kind, as they make little use of their toes in swimming. Except these, all web-footed birds have very short legs; and these strike while they swim, with great facility. Were the leg long, it would act like a lever whose prop is placed to a disadvantage; its motions would be slow, and the labour of moving it considerable. For this reason, the very few birds whose webbed feet are long, never make use of them in swimming: the web at the bottom seems only of service as a broad base; to prevent them from sinking while they walk in the mud; but it otherwise rather retards than advances their motion. The shortness of the legs in the web-footed kinds renders them as unfit for walking on land, as it qualifies them for swimming in their natural element. Their stay, therefore, upon land is but short and transitory; and they seldom venture to breed far from the sides of those waters where they usually remain. In their breeding seasons, their young are brought up by the water side; and they are covered with a warm down, to fit them for the coldness of their situation. The old ones also have a closer, warmer plumage, than birds of any other class. It is of their feathers that our beds are composed, as they neither mat nor imbibe humidity, but are furnished with an animal oil, that glazes their surface, and keeps each separate. In some, however, this animal oil is in too great abundance, and is as offensive from its smell as it is serviceable for the purposes of household economy. The feathers, therefore, of all the penguin kind, are totally useless for domestic purposes, as neither boiling nor bleaching can devest them of their oily rancidity. Indeed the rancidity of all new feathers, of whatever water fowl they be, is so disgusting, that our upholsterers give near double the price for old feathers that they afford for new: to be free from smell, they must all be lain upon for some time; and their usual method is to mix the new and the old together. The quantity of oil, with which most water fowl are supplied, contributes also to their warmth in the moist element where they reside. Their skin is generally lined with fat; so that, with the warmth of |