104 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



unbroken field of impenetrable ice, the various 

 web-footed birds, the swans 1 and geese, 2 and 

 ducks 3 and divers, 4 and coots, 5 and an infinity 

 of others, forming their angular and sometimes 

 triangular phalanxes, each in turn taking the 

 lead and first cutting the air, 6 fly off, often at a 

 great height, to seek in more southern climates, 

 not a region devoid of the usual concomitants of 

 winter, frost and snow, but where their rigours 

 are mitigated, so as to afford to these creatures 

 the means of life. Now, also the waders, usually 

 distinguished by their long legs and long beaks, 

 as the woodcock, 7 the curlew, and the snipes, 8 

 leave their native marshes and haunts to seek 

 others whose unfrozen or partially frozen mo- 

 rasses afford them a supply of the worms and 

 vermicles or similar animals that form their 

 usual nutriment. Many a time, when a boy, 

 have I pursued the field-fare, 9 which is one of 

 our winter guests, from tree to tree, without its 

 affording me an opportunity of taking aim at it, 

 as if it was aware of my purpose, and could smell 

 the contents of my musket ; no sooner did I get 

 within a couple of hundred yards, than, with all 

 its company, it flew a little further, and thus 

 kept tantalizing me for hours, without my even 



1 Cycnus. 2 An&er. 3 Anas. 



4 Mergus and Colymbus. 5 Fulica. 



6 N. Diet. D'Hist. Nat. xx. 544. 



7 Rusticola vulgaris Vieill. Numenius arquatus. Lath. 



8 Scolopax Gallinago and Gallinula. 9 Turdus pilaris. 



