Song Birds and Water Fowl 



Although they are mostly the plainer sorts, and 

 except the chickadee, entirely songless, I thin! 

 the winter species,' after all, as parables of hope 

 light-heartedness, and trust, come more close! 

 home to us, with their quiet lessons of encoui 

 agement and reproof, than all the gayer 'an( 

 more tuneful throng that are wafted hither o: 

 spring's glad wings, and luxuriate amid th 

 bloom and balmy airs of May and June. 



The supposed inferiority of water fowl in re 

 spect of plumage calls for a word of correction 

 So far as the more brilliant effects are concerned 

 it is true that there are few of the aquatic spe 

 cies that can rival many of the showy tanagers 

 finches, and warblers ; even as the sea itself i 

 colorless and sombre in comparison with all th 

 gorgeous floral products of the earth. But, o: 

 the other hand, it can truthfully be said thai 

 as regards the various softer tints, which ar 

 really the most prevalent among all species, th 

 beauty of the water fowl, in the aggregate, i 

 not inferior to that of their terrestrial kindred 

 that in effects of pure white, and in the ric 

 and striking combinations of black and white 

 many of the water fowl are unequalled by thei 

 allies on the land ; and that the very humblest c 

 the group are not more plainly dressed than ai 



SO 



