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 CHAPTER IX. 



WATSR-FOWX* 



"So steers the prudent crane 



Her annual voyage, borne on winds." 



u Scarce 



The bittern knows his time, with bill ingulph'd 

 To shake the sounding marsh." — Thomson. 



We are now about to take a glance at a species of birds dif- 

 ferent from the preceding, both in formation and habits, which 

 are destined by the Author of Nature to a different mode of 

 living, and furnished with such qualifications as are suitable to 

 their wants and propensities. 



WATER-FOWL 



May, with propriety, be divided into two different classes : — 

 the cloven-footed, and those which are web-footed. The first 

 of these are denominated the crane kind. These, like the rest 

 of the animals which Nature produces with endless diversity, 

 admit of too many distinctions to be brought forward with enu- 

 merative exactness. We shall therefore select a few out of the 

 immense variety presented to our view. 



THE CRANE KIND, 



Being destined to live and procure their food among waters, 

 but not to swim, Creative Wisdom is here, as every where else, 

 displayed in their peculiar formation. The legs are of an extra- 

 ordinary length, by which they are enabled to wade to a con- 

 siderable depth. The bill is also calculated with the same 

 adaptation to its particular use, being in general much longer 

 than that of other birds, — a circumstance that enables them to 

 fetch up their food from the bottom of muddy quagmires and 

 shallow waters. 



THE COMMON CRANE 



Is a tall slender bird ; its body is about the size of the hen 

 turkey, usually weighing about ten pounds, measuring about 

 three feet and a quarter in length, and three feet in height, with 

 a neck proportioned to the length of its legs. Its head is covered 

 with a black bristly crest ; and the back part, which is without 

 feathers, and appears of a red colour, distinguishes it from the 

 stork, to which it bears, in other respects, a considerable resem 

 blance. The plumage is in general ash-coloured j and from th« 

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