NATURALIST'S c A SIN fit. 



Easy motions Graceful evolutions. 



this figure was perhaps copied in the first con- 

 struction of vessels; their neck, which rises on a 

 projecting breast, represents the prow ; their 

 short tail, collected into a single bunch, serves as 

 a rudder ; their broad and palmated feet perform 

 the office of oars; and their thick down glistening 

 with oil (which entirely invests them) is impene- 

 trable by humidity, and at the same time enables 

 them to float more lightly on the surface of the 

 water. The habits and economy of these birds 

 correspond also with their organization: they 

 never seem happy but in their appropriate ele- 

 ment; they are averse to alight on the land ; and 

 the least roughness of the ground hurts their 

 soles, which are softened by the perpetual 

 bathing. The water is to them the scene of plea- 

 sure and repose; where all their motions are per-. 

 formed with facility, and where their various evo~ 

 kitions are traced with elegance and grace, 

 View the swuns moving sweetly along, or sailing 

 majestically with expanded plumage np6fi the 

 Wave ! They ga% sport : they dive and again 

 emerge with gentle undulations, and soft energy; 

 expressive of those sentiments which are the, 

 foundation of love. 



The life of aquatic birds is, therefore, more 

 peaceful and less laborious than that of most 

 other tribes. Smaller force is required in swim- 

 ming than in fly ing;, and the element which they 

 inhabit perpetually yields them subsistence : they 

 rather meet with their prey than search for it ; 



