III. THE DABCHICKS. 1 45 



Titanias. And these we associate, observe, 

 .not for any specialty of feature in them, but 

 ._for common character, habit, and size ; so 

 that, if perchance a child playing by any 

 stream, or on the sea-sands, perceives a 

 companionable bird dabbling in an equally 

 childish and pleasant manner, he may not 

 have to look through half a dozen volumes of 

 ornithology to find it ; but may be pretty sure 

 it has been one of these eight. And having 

 once fastened the characters of these well in 

 his mind, he may with ease remember that the 

 little grebe is the least of a family of chesnut- 

 leaf-footed, and sharp-billed creatures, which 

 yet in size, colour, and diving power, go 

 necessarily among Ducks, and cannot be 

 classed with Dabblers ; though it must be 

 always as distinctly kept in mind that a duck 

 proper has a flat beak, and a fully webbed 

 foot. 



Again, he may recollect that with these leaf- 

 footed ducks of the calm and fresh waters, 

 must be associated the leaf- footed or fringe- 

 footed ducks of the sea ; — * phalaropes,' which 

 by their short wings connect themselves with 



many clumsy marine creatures, on their way 



K 



