BOOK VI. 



OF BIRDS OF THE CRANE KIND. 



CHAPTER L 



OF BIRDS OF THE CRANE KIND IN GENERAL. 



THE progressions in Nature from one class of beings to another , 

 are always by slow and almost imperceptible degrees. She has peo- 

 pled the woods and the fields with a variety of the most beautiful 

 biids ; and, to leave no part of her extensive territories untenanted, 

 she has stocked the waters with its feathered inhabitants also ; she 

 has taken the same care in providing for the wants of her animals in 

 this element, as she has done with respect to those of the other : she 

 has used as much precaution to render water-fowl fit for swimming, 

 as she did iii forming land-fowl for flight : she has defended their f<:a- 

 thers with a natural oil, and united their toes by a webbed mem- 

 brane, by which contrivances they have at once security and motion. 

 But between the classes of land-birds that shun the water, and of wa- 

 ter-fowl that are made for swimming and living on it, she has formed 

 a very numerous tribe of birds, that seem to partake of a middle na- 

 ture ; that, with divided toes, seemingly fitted to live upon land, are 

 at the same time furnished with appetites that chiefly attach them to 

 the waters. These can properly be called neither land-birds nor wa- 

 ter-fowl, as they provide all their sustenance from watery places, and 

 yet are unqualified to seek it in those depths where it is often found 

 in greatest plenty. 



This class of birds, of the crane kind, are to be distinguished from 

 others rather by their appetites than their conformation. Yet even in 

 this respect they seem to be sufficiently discriminated by Nature : as 

 they are to live among the waters, yet are incapable of swimming in 

 them, most of them have long legs, fitted for wading in shallow waters, 

 or long bills proper for groping in them. 



Every bird of this kind, habituated to marshy places, may be- 

 known, if not by the length of its legs, at least by the scaly surface 

 of them. Those who have observed the legs of a snipe or a wood 

 cock, will easily perceive my meaning ; and how different the surface 

 of the skin that covers them is from that of the pigeon or the partridge. 

 Most birds of this kind also, are bare of feathers half way up the 

 Miigh ; at least, in all of them, above the knee. Their long habits 



