BOOK VII. 



OF WA TER-FO WL. 

 CHAPTER I 



OF WATER-FOWL IN GENERAL. 



IN settling the distinctions among the other classes of birds, there 

 was some difficulty ; one tribe encroached so nearly upon the nature 

 and habitudes of another, that it was not easy to draw the line which 

 kept them asunder : but in water-fowl Nature has marked them for 

 us by a variety of indelible characters ; so that it would be almost as 

 unlikely to mistake a land-fowl for one adapted for living and swim 

 ming among the waters, as a fish for a bird. 



The first great distinction in this class appears in the toes, which 

 are webbed together for swimming. Those who have remarked the 

 feet or toes of a duck, will easily conceive how admirably they are 

 formed for making way in the water. When men swim, they do not 

 open the fingers, so as to let the fluid pass through them ; but closing 

 them together, present one broad surface to beat back the water, and 

 thus push their bodies along. What man performs by art, Nature has 

 supplied to water-fowl ; and, by broad skins, has webbed their toes 

 together, so that they expand two broad oars to the water ; and thus, 

 moving them alternately, with the greatest ease paddle along. We 

 must observe also, that the toes are so contrived, that as they strike 

 backward, their broadest hollow surface beats the water ; but as they 

 gather them in again, for a second blow, their front surface contracts, 

 and does not impede the bird's progressive motion. 



As their toes are webbed in the most convenient manner, so are 

 their legs also made most fitly for swift progression in the water. The 

 legs of all are short, except the three birds described in a former 

 chapter, namely, the flamingo, the avosetta, and the corrira: all which, 

 for that reason, I have thought proper to rank among the crane kind, 

 as they make little use of their toes in swimming. Except these, all 

 web-footed birds have very short legs, and these strike, while they 

 swim, with great facility. Were the leg long, it would act like a 

 lever whose prop is placed to a disadvantage ; its motions would be 

 slow, and the labour of moving it considerable. For this reason the 

 very few birds whose webbed feet are long, never make use of them 

 ID swimming : the web at the bottom seems only of service as a broad 



