WATER FOWL. 357 



they walk in the mud ; but it otherwise rather 

 retards than advances their motion. 



The shortness of the legs in the web-footed 

 kinds, renders them as unfit for walking on land, 

 as it qualifies them for swimming in their natural 

 element. Their stay, therefore, upon land is but 

 short and transitory ; and they seldom venture to 

 breed far from the sides of those waters where 

 they usually remain. In their breeding seasons, 

 their young are brought up by the water side ; 

 and they are covered with a warm down, to fit 

 them for the coldness of their situation. The 

 old ones also have a closer, warmer plumage, 

 than birds of any other class. It is of their 

 feathers that our beds are composed, as they 

 neither mat nor imbibe humidity, but are furnish- 

 ed with an animal oil, that glazes their surface, 

 and keeps each separate. In some, however, 

 this animal oil is in too great abundance, and is as 

 offensive from its smell as it is serviceable for the 

 purposes of household economy. The feathers, 

 therefore, of all the penguin kind, are totally 

 useless for domestic purposes, as neither boil- 

 ing nor bleaching can divest them of their oily 

 rancidity. Indeed, the rancidity of all new fea- 

 thers, of whatever water fowl they be, is so dis- 

 gusting, that our upholsterers give near double 

 the price for old feathers that they afford for 

 new: to be free from smell, they must all be 

 lain upon for some time ; and their usual method 

 is to mix the new and the old together. 



This quantity of oil, with which most water 

 fowl are supplied, contributes also to their warmth 



