WATER FOWL 

, extended to that important, but 
less accessible group of species, that chiefly 
frequent the secluded watery places, the 
marshes, larger rivers, lakes, and, most of all, 
the margin of the sea. The general unfamiili- 
arity with this large section of our avifauna— 
comprising a third of all the species found in 
North America—and with which almost all 
field ornithologists have a very limited acquaint- 
ance, makes pertinent a few prefatory words in 
regard to them. 
It is certainly ashame for anyone, who calls 
himself a systematic student in any branch of 
natural science, to be content to leave quite 
unexplored so large and attractive a division of 
his subject as the water fowl constitute in orni- 
thology. And, although the geographical re- 
moteness, both of habitat and during migra- 
43 
