BIRDS IN GENERAL. 35 



serve them for the purposes of running, grasp- 

 ing, or climbing. On the other hand, water-fowl 

 have their legs and feet formed for the purposes 

 of wading in water, or swimming on its surface. 

 In those that wade, the legs are usually long and 

 naked ; in those that swim, the toes are webbed 

 together as we see in the feet of a goose, which 

 serve, like oars, to drive them forward with 

 greater velocity. The formation, therefore, of 

 land and water-fowl is as distinct as their habits ; 

 and nature herself seems to offer us this obvious 

 distribution, in methodizing animals of the fea- 

 thered creation. 



However, a distinction so comprehensive goes 

 but a short way in illustrating the different tribes 

 of so numerous a class. The number of birds 

 already known amounts to above eight hundred ; 

 and every person who turns his mind to these 

 kind of pursuits, is every day adding to the cata- 

 logue. It is not enough, therefore, to be able to 

 distinguish a land from a water-fowl ; much more 

 is still required to be able to distinguish the dif- 

 ferent kinds of birds from each other, and even 

 the varieties in the same kind, when they happen 

 to offer. This certainly is a work of great diffi- 

 culty, and perhaps the attainment will not repay 

 the labour. The sensible part of mankind will 

 not withdraw all their attention from more im- 

 portant pursuits, to give it entirely up to what 

 promises to repay them only with a very confined 

 species of amusement. In my distribution of 

 birds, therefore, I will follow Linnaeus in the 

 first sketch of his system ; and then leave him, to 



