BIRD FISHERMEN 203 



ter birds that get their living by fishing, and most 

 of these are industrious, voracious, swift, and 

 strong, and in all ways well equipped for their pro- 

 fession. 



Our human fishing smacks are not to be com- 

 pared with the innumerable bird fleets of aerial, 

 submarine, and surface fishers. They catch every 

 kind of fish, from a mackerel to a mussel. Many 

 of the fresh-water fishers wade and search the rivers 

 from headwaters to the sea, and cover the coast re- 

 gions of the whole world. 



It seems that no form of sea life escapes these 

 voracious bird fishers. Even the shell-fish, whose 

 shells are flinty hard and securely anchored to rocks 

 at the bottom of the sea, are at their mercy. One 

 of the most astonishing things of nature is the un- 

 thinkable depth to which the scaup-duck, the scoter, 

 and the eider dive beneath fathoms of water and 

 crush and devour the hard-shelled fish, such as mus- 

 sel and whelk, with as much ease as a thrush would 

 kill a small beetle. 



Most of these birds, however, are especially 

 equipped for their particular kind of fishing. The 

 scoters and the eiders have a strong ridge along 

 the upper part of the beak which gives it great 

 strength for crushing sea-shells, and notched or cor- 

 rugated teeth to assist in holding the shells. No 



