Song Birds and Water Fowl 
water fowl, and no larger than a sparrow or 
warbler. Some of them are fresh-water birds, 
and can be seen along nearly every stream. In 
this group, too, are the phalaropes, which are 
swimmers ; and a flock of these minute creatures, 
not so large as a robin, disporting in the water, 
affords a novel and beautiful picture. In the 
shore group, also, are curlews, and those com- 
monest of game birds, woodcock and snipe. 
As a class, these various sorts nest on the 
ground, the structure being adequate for all 
practical purposes, but not at all ornamental. 
Going out upon the water we come to the 
Swimming Group.—This contains the most 
familiar ofall the aquatic division—ducks, geese, 
and swans, whose temperament makes them 
peculiarly adaptable to domestication. Almost 
forty distinct species of ducks belong to our 
avifauna—an imposing flotilla—and, as a class, 
they are the most handsomely decorated of any 
water group. Among land birds, Nature has 
been most prodigal of color in the ‘‘ warblers,”’ 
and, for more than one reason, ducks might be 
called aquatic warblers. Strange to say, yel- 
low, which is such a common color in the land 
division, is almost totally absent from water 
birds. Excepting the golden plover and one 
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