102 DAKWmiSM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF. 



it is in a flock of white sheep to destroy a lamb with the 

 faintest trace of black. 



"WHY HABITS AND STBtTCTUEB AEE NOT IN AGEBEMENT. 



Origin of He who believes that each being has been 



Species, created as we now see it must occasionally 



have felt surprise when he has met with an 

 animal having habits and structure not in agreement. 

 What can be plainer than that the webbed feet of ducks 

 and geese are formed for swimming ? Yet there are upland 

 geese with webbed feet which rarely go near the water ; 

 and no one except Audubon has seen the frigate-bird, 

 which has all its four toes webbed, alight on the surface 

 of the ocean. On the other hand, grebes and coots are 

 eminently aquatic, although their toes are only bordered 

 by membrane. What seems plainer than that the long 

 toes, not furnished with membrane, of the Grallatores, 

 are formed for walking over swamps and floating plants ? 

 — the water-hen and land-rail are members of this order, 

 yet the first is nearly as aquatic as the coot, and the 

 second nearly as terrestrial as the quail or partridge. In 

 such cases, and many others could be given, habits have 

 changed without a corresponding change of structure. 

 The webbed feet of the upland goose may be said to have 

 become almost rudimentary in function, though not m 

 structure. In the frigate-bird, the deeply-scooped mem- 

 brane between the toes shows that structure has begun to 

 change. 



He who believes in separate and innumerable acts of 

 creation may say that in these cases it has pleased the 

 Creator to cause a being of one type to take the place of 

 one belonging to another type ; but this seems to me only 

 restating the fact in dignified language. He who beh'eves 



