BIRDS. 363 



water. The legs of all are short, except the three birds de- 

 scribed in a former chapter ; namely, the flamingo, the avosetta, 

 and the corrira ; all which, for that reason, I have thought pro- 

 per to rank among the crane kind, as they make little use of theii 

 toes in swimming. Except these, all web-footed birds have very 

 short legs ; and these strike, while they swim, with great facili- 

 ty — Were the leg long, it would act like a lever whose prop is 

 placed to a disadvantage ; its motions would be slow, and the 

 labour of moving it considerable. For this reason, the very few 

 birds whose webbed feet are long, never make use of them in 

 swimming : the web at the bottom seems only of service as a 

 broad base, to prevent them from sinking while they walk 

 in the mud ; but it otherwise rather retards than advances their 

 motion. 



The shortness of their legs in the web-footed kinds, renders 

 them as unfit for walking on land, as it qualifies them for swim- 

 ming 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 furnished with an animal-oil 

 that glazes their surface, and keeps each other 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 pen- 

 guin kind are totally useless for domestic purposes ; as neither 

 boiling nor bleaching can divest them of their oily rancidity 

 Indeed, the rancidity of all new feathers, of whatever water- fowl 

 they be, is so disgusting, 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 in the moist element where they 

 reside. Their skin is generally lined with fat ; so that, with the 

 warmth of the feathers externally, and this iiatuial lining more 



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