PREFACE. 
WE now enter upon the second grand division of our subject, 
Water Birds ; and on that particular order, usually denominated 
Gralla, or Waders. Here a new assemblage of scenery, altogether 
different from the former, presents itself for our contemplation. 
Instead of rambling through the leafy labyrinths of umbrageous 
groves, fragrance-breathing orchards, fields and forests, we must 
now descend into the watery morass, and moscheto-swamp ; tra- 
verse the windings of the rivers, the rocky clifls, bays and inlets of 
the seabeat shore, listening to the wild and melancholy screams of 
a far different multitude ; a multitude less intimate indeed with 
man, tho not less useful; as they conti'ibute liberally to his amuse- 
ment, to the abundance of his table, the warmth of his bed, and 
the comforts of his repose. 
In contemplating the various, singular and striking peculiari- 
ties of these, we shall every where find traces of an infinitely wise 
and beneficent Creator. In every deviation of their parts from the 
common conformation of such as are designed for the land alone, 
we may discover a wisdom of design never erring, never failing in 
the means it provides for the accomplishment ol its purpose. In- 
stead therefore of imitating the wild piesumption, or i-ather pro- 
VOL. VII. 
A 
