Song Birds and Water Fowl 



cant variety of physical types to be foun 

 among them. It is true, there are some diffei 

 ences in form and figure among the varioi 

 land groups, and these differences become sti! 

 more evident upon prolonged acquaintance 

 Yet the " build " of all the land birds is vastl 

 more uniform than that of water birds, whos 

 variety of appearance, even to the most careles 

 observer, is very striking. We have stron, 

 proof of this greater variety in type anion, 

 water birds in the fact, first, that while th 

 land birds of North America, comprising two 

 thirds of the entire avifauna, are arranged ii 

 six orders — which, in the main, conform ti 

 the most conspicuous differences in figure — th 

 water birds, only half as numerous, are divida 

 into seven orders. But this expresses only ; 

 small part of the truth. For, not only are th 

 six orders of land birds far more nearly uni 

 form in figure than the seven orders of wate 

 fowl, but the vast majority of all land bird 

 usually seen by the field ornithologist belong t< 

 only two or three orders, wherein, too, th 

 differences of type are quite inconspicuous 

 while the greatest departure from the genera 

 type is among a small number that are com 

 paratively infrequent. 



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