CHAPTER XV 



WATER-BIRD WAIFS 



(Wading and Swimming Birds) 



THE water-birds as a class, both waders and 

 swimmers, though often neglected by bird 

 students, to me seem exceedingly fascinating, 

 as much so as any other group of birds, if not even 

 more. This may be because I am almost a sort of 

 water-bird myself. I have a fellow-feeling for the 

 ducks because I swim, and for the white-winged gulls 

 because for years I have loved to spread the white 

 yacht sails to the breeze and skim over the brine. And 

 as for the wading-birds, the mysteries of swamp and 

 morass make strong appeal to my imagination, and I 

 love to wade and scramble about and enjoy the free 

 unconventionality of the realm where land and water 

 intermingle. Such things, too, appeal to a boy like 

 Ned, as they are bound to appeal to any lively boy. 

 I think and hope that I must still be a boy, and I mean 

 to be one as long as I live. 



One great trouble in studying the water-birds is their 

 general scarcity. No matter how shy and retiring they 

 are, if they only were somewhere, I would risk the 

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