WATER-FOWL. 



575 



boiling nor bleaching can divest them of their 

 oily rancidity. Indeed, the rancidity of all 

 new feathers, of whatever water-fowl they 

 be, is so disgusting, that our upholsterers 

 give near double the price for old feathers 

 that they afford for new : to be free from 

 smell, they must all be Iain upon for some 

 lime ; and their usual method is to mix the 

 new and the old together. 



This quantity of oil, with which most water- 

 fowl are supplied, contributes also to their 

 warmth in the moist element where they re- 

 side. Their skin is generally lined with fat; 

 so that, with the warmth of the feathers ex- 

 ternally, and this natural lining more inter- 

 nally, they are better defended against the 

 changes or the inclemencies of the weather, 

 than any other class whatever. 



As, among land-birds, there are some found 

 fitted entirely for depredation, and others for 

 an harmless method of subsisting upon vege- 

 tables, so also, among these birds, there are 

 tribes of plunderers that prey, riot only upon 

 fish, but sometimes upon water-fowl them- 

 selves. There are likewise more inoffensive 

 tribes, that live upon insects and vegetables 

 only. Some water-fowls subsist by making 

 sudden stoops from above, to seize whatever 

 fish come near the surface ; others again, not 

 furnished with wings long enough to fit them 

 for flight, take their prey by diving after it to 

 the bottom. 



From hence all water-fowl naturally fall 

 into three distinctions. Those of the Gull 

 kind, that, with long legs and round bills, fly 

 along the surface to seize their prey: those 

 of the Penguin kind, that, with round bills, 

 legs hid in the abdomen, and short wings, 

 dive after their prey : and, thirdly, those of 

 the Goose kind, with flat broad bills, that lead 

 harmless lives, and chiefly subsist upon in- 

 sects and vegetables. 



These are not speculative distinctions, 

 made up for the arrangement of a system; 



but they are strongly and evidently marked 

 by nature. The Gull kind are active and ra- 

 pacious ; constantly, except when they breed, 

 keeping upon the wing; fitted for a life of 

 rapine, with sharp straight bills for piercing, 

 or hooked at the end for holding their fishy 

 prey. In this class we may rank the Alba- 

 tross, the Cormorant, the Gannet or Soland 

 Goose, the Shae^, the Frigate-bird, the Great 

 Brown Gull, and all the lesser tribe of gulls 

 and sea-swallows. 



The Penguin kind, with appetites as vora- 

 cious, bills as sharp, and equally eager for 

 prey, are yet unqualified to obtain it by flight. 

 Their wings are short, and their bodies large 

 and heavy, so that they can neither run nor 

 fly. But they are formed for diving in a very 

 peculiar manner. Their feet are placed so 

 far backward, and their legs so hid in the 

 abdomen, that the slightest stroke sends them 

 head foremost to the bottom of the water. 

 To this class we may refer the Penguin, the 

 Auk, the Skout, the Sea-turtle, the Bottlenose. 

 and the Loon. 



The Goose kind are easily distinguishable, 

 by their flat broad bills, covered with a skin; 

 and their manner of feeding, which is mostly 

 upon vegetables. In this class we may 

 place the Swan, the Goose, the Duck, the 

 Teal, the Widgeon, and all their numerous 

 varieties. 



In describing the birds of these three 

 classes, I will put the most remarkable of 

 each class at the beginning of their respec- 

 tive tribes, and give their separate history ; 

 then, after having described the chiefs of the 

 tribe, the more ordinary sorts will naturally 

 fall in a body, and come under a general 

 description, behind their leaders. But be- 

 fore I offer to pursue this methodical arrange- 

 ment, I must give the history of a bird, that, 

 from the singularity of its conformation, seems 

 allied to no species ; and should, therefore, 

 be separately described I mean the Pelican. 





