Song Birds and Water Fowl 



water fowl, and no larger than a sparrow or 

 warbler. Some of them are fresh-water birds, 

 and can be seen along nearly every stream. In 

 this group, too, are the phalaropes, which are 

 swimmers ; and a flock of these minute creatures, 

 not so large as a robin, disporting in the water, 

 affords a novel and beautiful picture. In the 

 shore group, also, are curlews, and those com- 

 monest of game birds, woodcock and snipe. 

 As a class, these various sorts nest on the 

 ground, the structure being adequate for all 

 practical purposes, but not at all ornamental. 

 Going out upon the water we come to the 

 Swimming Group. — This contains the most 

 familiar of all the aquatic division — ducks, geese, 

 and swans, whose temperament makes them 

 peculiarly adaptable to domestication. Almost 

 forty distinct species of ducks belong to our 

 avifauna — an imposing flotilla — and, as a class, 

 they are the most handsomely decorated of any 

 water group. Among land birds. Nature has 

 been most prodigal of color in the " warblers," 

 and, for more than one reason, ducks might be 

 called aquatic warblers. Strange to say, yel- 

 low, which is such a common color in the land 

 division, is almost totally absent from water 

 birds. Excepting the golden plover and one 



