Stl 



LETTER XLIX. 



** So steers the prudent crane 

 Her annual Yovage, borne on wiuds." 



scare* 



The bittern knows his time, with bill ingulph'd 

 To shake the sounding marsh." 



THOMSON*. 

 EAE SIR, 



JL AM now about to entertain you with a glance of a 

 species of birds different from the preceding, both in 

 formation and habits, which are destined by the Au- 

 thor of Nature to a different mode of living, and fur- 

 nished with such qualifications as are suitable to their 

 wants and propensities. 



WATER FOWL 



may, with propriety, be divided into two different 

 classes. The cloven-footed, and those which are 

 web-footed. The first of these are denominated the 

 crane kind. These, like the rest of the animals which 

 nature produces with endless diversity, admit of too 

 many distinctions to be brought forward with enu- 

 merative exactness. I shall therefore select a few 

 out of the immense variety presented to our view. 



THE CRANE KIND 



being destined to live and procure their food among 

 waters, but not to swim, Creative Wisdom is here, as 

 every where else, displayed in their peculiar forma- 

 tion. The legs are of an extraordinary length, by 

 which they are enabled to wade to a considerable 

 depth. The bill is also calculated with the same 

 adaptation to its particular use, being in general much 

 longer than that of other birds, a circumstance that 

 enables them to fetch up their food from the bottom 

 of muddy quagmires and shallow waters. 



THE COMMON CRANK 



is a tall slender bird; its body is about the size of the 

 hen turkey, usually weighing about ten pounds, mea- 

 curing about three feet and a quarter in length, and 



