261 



CHAP. IX. 



OF WATER-FOWL IN GENERAL. 



THE first great distinction in this class appears in the 

 toes, which are webbed together for the purpose of 

 swimming ; and those who have remarked the toes and 

 feet of a duck, will easily conceive how admirably they 

 are formed for forcing a passage through the stream. 

 When men swim they never open their hands so as to 

 let the fluid pass, but, closing them together, present 

 one broad surface, which, by beating back the water, 

 pushes their bodies along. What man performs by 

 Art, Nature has supplied to water-fowl, and has given 

 them two broad oars, with which they paddle along ; 

 and as their toes are webbed in the most convenient 

 manner, their legs are no less admirably formed, for, 

 by being short, they strike with facility, and materi- 

 ally assist them as they swim. Though this shortness 

 of legs qualifies them for the water, it renders them 

 unfit for remaining long upon land, and therefore they 

 generally breed near the sides of those rivers where 

 they usually reside. The young of this class are co- 

 vered with a soft down, that enables them to support 

 the coldness of their situation ; and the old ones have 

 likewise a much warmer plumage than any other of the 

 feathered race. 



It is to these useful birds that we owe the comfort of 

 good feather beds on which to repose our weary limbs, 

 as they neither mat or imbibe humidity, from an animal 

 oil with which they are endowed, but which proves ex- 

 tremely offensive and disagreeable, unless the feathers 

 are thoroughly dried before they are used. 



As among land-birds there are some fitted entirely 

 !l a 



