Water Fowl 

as he studies these varied and less familiar 
forms of life, from that suggested by arboreal 
birds, and his pleasure will be often quite as 
keen. It can be more truly said of many of 
this group that they are ‘‘ fowls of the air’’ 
than of almost all of the terrestrial sorts. Re- 
turning from the vastness and illimitable expos- 
ure of the seashore to the close and shady co- 
vert of the woods, it seems sometimes as if the 
song birds really only lived half out-of-doors. 
But the most pleasing aspect of water fowl, 
wherein the peculiar genius of their nature is 
clearly displayed, is in the fact that, as com- 
pared with all other species, they are so pre- 
eminently picturesque. According to the canons 
of strict beauty, many of the woodland species 
are doubtless far superior ; but in that subtle 
quality that makes the most effective pzcture, 
the water birds are certainly incomparable ; 
and every painter, poet, and observer feels the 
truth of this. They form a very essential part 
of that fine atmosphere which is the climax of 
the painter’s art—suggestiveness—and are the 
most poetic link between humanity and Nature. 
In most intimate connection with this thought 
is the fact that the most attractive view of these 
winged children of the sea is in their close asso- 
55 
