146 love's meinie. 



to become seals instead of birds ; and that I 

 have kept the two Httle Titanias out of this 

 class, not merely for their niceness, but because 

 they are not short-winged in any vulgar degree, 

 but seem to have wings about as long as a 

 sand-piper's ; — and indeed I had put the purple 

 sand-piper, Arquatella maritima, with them, in 

 my own folio; only as the Arquatella's feet 

 are not chesnutty, she had better go with her 

 own kind in our notes on them. 



117. But there are yet two birds, which I 

 think well to put with our eight dabchicks, 

 though they are much larger than any of 

 them, — partly because of their disposition, and 

 partly because of their plumage, — the water- 

 rail, and water-hen. Modern science, with 

 instinctive horror of all that is pretty to see, 

 or easy to remember, entirely rejects the 

 plumage, as any element or noticeable condi- 

 tion of bird-kinds ; nor have I ever 3'-et tried 

 to make it one myself; yet there are certain 

 qualities of downiness in ducks, fluffiness in 

 owls, spottiness in thrushes, patchiness in pies, 

 bronzed or rusty lustre in cocks, and pearly 

 iridescence in doves, which I believe may 

 be aptly brought into connection with other 



