WATER FOWL. 355 



skins are out of season about February, losing 

 their bright colour ; and in breeding time their 

 breasts are entirely bare. 



PART VI. 



OF WATER FOWL. 



CHAPTER I. 



OF WATER FOWL IN GENERAL. 



IN settling the distinctions among the other 

 classes of birds, there was some difficulty j one 

 tribe encroached so nearly upon the nature and 

 habitudes of another, that it was not easy to draw 

 the line which kept them asunder ; but in water 

 fowl nature has marked them for us by a variety 

 of indelible characters ; so that it would be almost 

 as unlikely to mistake a land fowl for one adapted 

 for living and swimming among the waters, as a 

 fish for a bird. 



The first great distinction in this class appears 

 in the toes, which are webbed together for swim- 

 ming. Those who have remarked the feet or toes 

 of a duck, will easily conceive how admirably 

 they are formed for making way in the water. 



