loo T H E C R A N E K I N D. 



With fliorter bills — The Ruff, a collar of feathers round the neck of 

 the male; the Knot, the Sand-piper, the Sanderling, the Dun- 

 lin, the PuRRE, and the Stint. 



With bills very Ihort — The Lapwing, the Green Plover, the Gre^ 

 Plover, the Dottrel, the Turnstone, and the Sea-lark. Thefe, 

 with their afBnities, are natives or vifitants of this country, its fhores, 

 rivers, and nnarfhes. The foreign birds of this kind would extend the 

 lift to above an hundred. 



All thefe birds are bare of feathers above the knee; and fome halfway 

 up the thigh. This is partly natural, and partly produced by habitually 

 wading in water. The older the bird, the barer its thighs j yet even the 

 downy covering of the young ones does not reach fo low as in birds of 

 other claffes. They run with great fwiftnefs for their fize, and the 

 length of their legs affifts their velocity: they are equally fwifc of wing, 

 and traverfe innmenfe trads of country without much fatigue. 



All birds of this clafs live on animals of one kind or another. The 

 long-billed birds fuck up worms and infe<5^s from the bottom ; thofe 

 furniihed with lliorter bills, pick up fuch infers as lie nea;er the furface 

 of the meadow, or among the fands on the fea-fliore. 



The Curlew, the Woodcock, the Snipe, are ever {een in plafhy 

 brakes, under covered hedges, feeking infects in their worm ilate. Their 

 bills are long for fearching, but are further endowed with exquifite fen- 

 fibility at the point,^ for feeling their provifion. They arc furniihed 

 with three pair of nerves, equal almoft to the optic nerves in thicknefs ; 

 which pafs from the roof cxf the mouth, and run along the upper chap 

 to the point. ^ 



The Lapwing, the Sand-piper, and the Red-shank, run with 

 furprifing rapidity along the furface of the marfli, or the fea-fhore, quar- 

 ter their ground with great dexterity, and leave nothing of the infcd 

 kind that happens to lie on the furface. 



Thefe birds feem ever employed, feldom reft by day ; and, during 

 night, every meadow and^ marfli refounds with their calls to courtfliip or 

 to food. They fcem provided by nature with a warmth of conftitution 

 to fit them for the cold element. They refide, by choice, in the coldeft 

 climates ; and,, as other birds migrate here in fummer, their migrations 

 'hither are moftly in winter. Thofe that refide among us the whole fea- 

 fon, retire in fummer to the tops of our bleakeft mountains; where they 

 breed, and bring down their young, when the cold weather fets in. . 



The 



