2 7 J 



THE 



THIRD BOOK 



OF THE 



ORNITHOLOGY 



OF 



FKJWICIS WlLLVqH'BYE^ 



Of ffater^FowL 



? Ater-fowl are either Cloven-footed, which are much converfant 

 in or about waters, and for the moft part feek their Food in. 

 watery places. \_ Almofr. all thefe have long Legs, naked or 

 bare of feathers for a good way above the Knees, that they 

 may more conveniently wade in waters ~] ovWhole-footed,wh\ch 

 fivim in the water, and are for the moft part ihort-leg'd. 



Thofe that live much about waters are either, firft, of great 

 jize, the biggeft ofthjs kind, having each fomething Angular, 

 and being not reducible to any other tribe, which therefore as 

 ftraglers and anomalous birds we have placed by themfeives, though they agree in 

 nothing but their bignefs : Or fecondly, of leffer ftze. Thefe lelTer are either *Pifci- * That feed 

 •vorom, orfiichasfucka nourifhing fat juice or moifture put of, muddy and boggy upon m ' i 

 ground, or f Infc&ivorom. The Pi fcivorous are Herons, Storks,&cc The Limofuga t That feed 

 or Mud-fickers may be diftinguifhed by their Bills into fuch as have very long Bills, oa laksti ' 

 either crooked, as the Curlew, ox freight, as the Woodcock; The Infeclivorom Water- 

 birds have either Bills of a middle fize for length, as the Himantopus 3 or fhort Bills, 

 as the Plover, Lapwings Sec. 



_ We call thofe Birds Mud fuckers, which fuck out of the Mud or Channels fbmeoyly 

 flime or juice, w herewith they are nourifhed: Whence they have delicate flefb, and 

 their very guts not emptied or cleanfed from the Excrements are ufiially eaten. 

 Thefe have very long Bills for this purpofe, broad near the tip,and finely chamfered 

 or wrought with lines : Speckled bodies ? two toes fomewhat joyned 5 all broad, that 

 they may noteafily fink as they walk upon muddy and boggy grounds. 



But becaufe we are not fo skilful, as that we can certainly determine what Birds 

 belong to each of thefe kinds, we (hall chufe rather to diftinguifh Cloven-footed 

 Water-fowl, not Pifcivorous by the different length of their Bills, into three kinds. 

 The firft (hall be of thofe that have the longeft Bills, whether fireight, as the JfW- 

 cock.,&z.c. or crooked, as the Curlerv,&c. The fecond of fuch whofe Bills are of a 

 middle length, as the Himantopus, 5tc. The third of Jhort-biU'd birds, as the Plover, 

 Lappping,&.c. Thofe we call long-bill 'd, whofe Bills exceed two inches and an half 

 length : thofe middle-fized, whofe Bills are of any length between two inches and an 

 half^ and one and an half: Thofe fort-bill 1 d, whofe Bills exceed not an inch and 

 half. 



Moft Water-fowl have a fhort Tail 5 none of them have their Feet fo difpofed as 

 Woodpeckers and Parrots, that is two forward, and two backward 3 none having more 

 than one back toe. Among Water-fowl of all kinds thofe that feed upon fiftihave 

 the ranker and ftrOnger-fented flefh. 



Nn THE 



