CHAPTER VIII.
WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL.
TO the general reader these terms may appear synonymous, but to the sportsman and naturalist they have a very different signification. Under the head of “wild-fowl” may be placed the various species of wild geese, swans, and ducks, which, though often found at sea, evince a partiality for fresh water, rear their young in the neighbourhood of fresh water, and, as an article of food, are especially sought after by the amateur for sport, and by the professional gunner for profit; while the group of “sea-fowl” may be said to include the gulls, terns, guillemots, auks, cormorants, and various other birds, which, making the sea their home, rear their young upon its shelving beach or frowning cliffs, and, except on an emergency, are seldom cooked and eaten.
A FLIGHT OF FOWL.
Shakespeare has given us a peep at both. At one time we see—
“Strange fowl light upon neighbouring ponds.”
Cymbeline, Act i. Sc. 4;
at another—
“A flight of fowl
Scatter’d by winds and high tempestuous gusts.”
Titus Andronicus, Act v. Sc. 3.