Page [45]

                 INTRODUCTION
                          TO THE
                WATER BIRDS.
  WE now enter upon the second grand division of our subject,
WATER BIRDS; and on that particular class, or order, usually
denominated Grallxe, or Waders. Here a new assemblage of
scenery, altogether different from the former, presents itself for
our contemplation. Instead of rambling through the leafy laby-
rinths of umbrageous groves, fragrance-breathing orchards,
fields and forests, we must now descend into the watery morass,
and mosquitoe-swamp; traverse the windings of the river, the
rocky cliffs, bays and inlets of the sea-beat shore, listening to
the wild and melancholy screams of a far different multitude;
a multitude less intimate indeed with man, though not less use-
ful; as they contribute liberally to his amusement, to the abun-
dance of his table, the warmth of his bed, and the comforts of
his repose.
  In contemplating the various, singular and striking, peculi-
arities 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 of
its purpose. Instead therefore of imitating the wild presumption,
or rather profanity, of those who have censured as rude, defec-
tive or deformed, whatever, in those and other organized beings,
accorded not with their narrow conceptions; let it be ours to
search with humility into the intention of those particular
conformations; and thus, entering as it wvere into the designs of