Water Fowl 



and groves, but commonly remote from man's 

 usual resorts. This circumstance will doubtless 

 preclude that degree of popularity which be- 

 longs to land birds ; while, at the same time, 

 the mystery of their lives, and vagueness of 

 their personalities, which are due, in part, to 

 that self-same cause, will, to people of a certain 

 temperament, greatly enhance their charms. 



Whoever presents the claims of water fowl 

 is likely to do it in the rSU of a special pleader, 

 who feels that the mind of the listener is de- 

 cidedly cold in regard to the subject in hand, 

 even if not absolutely antagonistic to his own 

 position. In view of this, I Will not, at the 

 outset, seek to evade the depreciation of these 

 strange fowl that will certainly be felt when 

 their claims are first presented : being confident 

 that, when the two groups are placed upon an 

 impartial footing, much of the apparent inferi- 

 ority of water fowl will disappear; while their 

 various peculiar excellencies will in large meas- 

 ure offset the special and familiar claims of land 

 birds to our admiration. 



Let me, then, forestall any unfavorable im- 

 pression in regard to our sea-friends by confess- 

 ing two or three of their demerits. 



The majority of land birds seem more ap- 



45 



