Water Birds 



239 



The water birds, tho more numerous than the two 

 preceding groups, are but a handful of this great class 

 of vertebrates. 



The principal kinds of birds that frequent the water 

 are water-fowl — ducks, geese and swans; the shore 

 birds — plover, snipe and rails; the gulls, the herons 

 and the divers. Some of these that, like the loon, are 



Fig. 146. Wild geese foraging in a marsh in Dakota. 



superably fitted for swimming and diving, feed mainly 

 on fishes. Most water birds consume a great variety of 

 lesser animals. The ducks and rails differ much in diet 

 according to species. Thus the Sora rail eats mainly 

 seeds of marsh plants, while the allied Virginia rail in 

 the same locality eats miscellaneous animal food to the 

 extent of more than 50 per cent, of its diet. 



Only the waterfowl that are prized as game birds are 

 extensively herbivorous. They eat impartially the 

 vegetable products of the land and of the water. The 



