Miscellaneous, 229 



Their numbers being so great ; the waters covering quite, 



That rais'd, the spacious air is darken'd with their flight ; 



Yet still the dangerous dykes from shot do them secure, 



Where they from flash to flash, like the full epicure, 



Waft, as they lov'd to change their diet every meal ; 



And near to them you see the lesser dibbling Teal 2 



In bunches 3 , with the first that fly from mere to mere, 



As they above the rest were lords of earth and air. 



The Gossander 4 with them, my goodly fens do show, 



His head as ebon black, the rest as white as snow, 



With whom the Widgeon 3 goes, the Golden-eye 6 , the Smeath 7 ; 



And in odd scatter'd pits, the flags and reeds beneath, 



The Coot 8 , bald, else clean black, that whiteness it doth bear 



Upon the forehead starr'd, the Water-hen 9 doth wear 



Upon her little tail, in one small feather set. 



The Water-Woosell 10 next, all over black as jet, 



With various colours, black, green, blue, red, russet, white, 



Do yield the gazing eye as variable delight 



As do those sundry fowls, whose several plumes they be. 



The diving Dobchick 11 here amongst the rest you see, 



Now up, now down again, that hard it is to prove, 



Whether under water most it liveth, or above ; 



With which last little fowl (that water may not lack, 



More than the dobchick doth, and more doth love the brack 12 ,) 



The Puffin 13 we compare, which coming to the dish, 



Nice palates hardly judge if it be flesh or fish 14 . 



" But wherefore should I stand upon such toys as these, 

 That have so goodly fowls, the wand'ring eye to please ? 

 Here in my vaster pools, as white as snow or mi k, 

 (In water black as Styx,) swims the Wild Swan 15 , the like 15 , 

 Of Hollanders so term'd, no niggard of his breath, 

 (As poets say of swans, who only sing in death,) 

 But oft as other birds is heard his tunes to roat, 

 Which like a trumpet comes, from his long arched throat 16 , 



2 Anas Crecca. 



3 The word used in falconry and by fen-men for a company of teal. 



4 Gossander, for Goosander, Mergus Merganser. 



5 Anas Penelope. c Anas clangula. 



* Smeath I suppose to have been another name for the Smew, Mergus 

 albellus. 



8 Coot-bald or Bald-coot, Fulica atra. 



9 Water-hen or Moor-hen, Gallinula chloropus. The specific name refers 

 to the green colour of the legs : the under tail-coverts are nearly white, as 

 noticed by Drayton. 



10 Water- Woosell (Water-Ouzel), the Dipper, Cinclus aquations. 



11 Dabchick or Little Grebe, Podiceps minor. 



12 Salt water. 13 Fratercula arctica. 



14 Several species of water-fowl, supposed to feed exclusively on fish, are 

 permitted to be eaten by Catholics on their maigre days. 



15 Elk and Hooper, names of the wild swan, Cygnus ferus. 



16 See Dr. Latham and Mr. Yarrell's papers in the ! Transactions of the 

 Linnajan Society/ vols. iv. xvi. and xvii., on the convoluted wind-pipes of 

 wild-swans. 



