140 love's meinie. 



they can trip upon, on the tarns of Monk- 

 Coniston. 



IV.B. TITANIA INCONSTANS. CHANGEFUL 



FAIRY. 



Phalaropiis FuUcaruis. {Coot-like Flialaropc — Gould.) 



114. I think the epithet * changeful ' prettier, 

 and, until we know what a coot is like, more 

 descriptive, than ' coot-like ' ; the bird having 

 red plumage in summer, and grey in winter, 

 while the coot is always black. It is a little 

 less pretty and less amiable than its sister 

 fairy ; otherwise scarcely to be thought of but 

 as a variety, both of them being distinguished 

 from the coot, not only by colour, but by their 

 smaller size ; — (they eight inches long, it six- 

 teen) — and by the slender beaks, the coot 

 having a thick one, half-way to a puffin's. 



And here, once for all, — for I see I have 

 taken no note yet of the beaks or bills of my 

 dabchicks, — I will at once arrange a formula 

 of the order of questions which it will be 

 proper to ask, and get answered, concerning 

 any bird, in the same order always, so that 

 we shall never miss anything that we ought 



