Song Birds and Water Fowl 



proachable than water fowl ; not only by occu- 

 pying, in a literal sense, common ground with 

 ourselves, but by possessing a temperament 

 that, in many ways, better harmonizes with our 

 commonest feelings. However much there 

 may be in regard to them that we cannot un- 

 derstand, there is, if I may so express it, a pe- 

 culiar frankness in their lives, and, among 

 many of the species, such heartiness of song, as 

 easily inspires a fellow-feeling, even before we 

 come to have a definite sense of familiarity 

 with them. One's first impression of the water 

 fowl, however, is not so favorable. They are 

 certainly less demonstrative and open-hearted, 

 and show a reserve that is likely to repel our 

 advances, even while it piques our curiosity. 

 As compared with our favorite songsters, their 

 wilder and apparently cold and passionless nat- 

 ure appears at a disadvantage. They live on 

 the confines of an unknown world, from which 

 they bring us scarcely any intelligible mes- 

 sage ; and their lonely, bleak, and inhospitable 

 habitat seems aptly to typify their character. 

 Light-heartedness and warmth of feeling, so 

 characteristic of the robin, chickadee, and 

 finch, seem generally alien to these creatures ; 

 which, as a class, are songless, if not silent, 

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