340 HISTORY OF 



we might add a hundred others, of distant cli- 

 mates, of which we know little more than the 

 colour and the name. In this list is exhibited 

 the Curlew, a bird of about the size of a duck, 

 with a bill four inches long : the Woodcock, 

 about the size of a pigeon, with a bill three 

 inches long : the Godwit, of the same size, the 

 bill four inches : the Green Shank, longer legged, 

 the bill two inches and a half: the Red Shank, 

 differing in the colour of its feet from the former: 

 the Snipe, less by half, with a bill three inches. 

 Then with shorter bills The Ruff, with a collar 

 of feathers round the neck of the male; the 

 Knot, the Sandpiper, the Sanderling, the Dunlin, 

 the Purre, and the Stint. To conclude, with 

 bills very short the Lapwing, the Green Plover, 

 the Grey Plover, the Dottrel, the Turnstone, and 

 the Sea-lark. These, with their affinities, are 

 properly natives or visitants of this country, and 

 are dispersed along our shores, rivers, and watery 

 grounds. Taking in the birds of this kind be- 

 longing to other countries, the list would be very 

 widely extended ; and the whole of this class, as 

 described by Brisson, would amount to near a 

 hundred. 



All these birds possess many marks in com- 

 mon, though some have peculiarities that deserve 

 regard. All these birds are bare of feathers 

 above the knee, or above the heel, as some na- 

 turalists choose to express it. In fact, that part 

 which I call the knee, if compared with the legs 

 of mankind, is analogous to the heel j but, as it is 

 commonly conceived otherwise, I have conform- 



