SIDE LIGHTS ON BIRDS 



The British auk family includes the httle auk, the 

 guillemots, common and black, the puffin, and 

 the razorbill. These birds are built on different 

 lines from the true divers. Their feet are small 

 and comparatively feeble. But, to counter- 

 balance this, the wings are set well forward, and 

 beneath the water act like the flippers of a seal. 

 Thus these birds may be seen to be literally flying 

 under water, the beating of the wings having more 

 to do with the propulsion than the strokes of the 

 webbed feet. The auk's manner of diving 



difiers from that of both cormorant and diver. 

 In place of the graceful curve of the one, and the 

 almost magical disappearance of the other, the 

 guillemot, or razorbill, dips its head deep in the 

 water, and then with a quick little flick of wing 

 and twist of body, drives itself down to the lower 

 levels. A stream of bubbles rises in its wake, and 

 it either bolts the fish it catches as it flies beneath 

 the water, or rises to the surface to discuss it 

 at its leisure. The auks remain submerged for a 

 much shorter time than either the cormorants 

 or the divers. Twenty-three seconds has been 

 given as an average, but many birds which we 

 recently timed were not longer than fifteen. 



The waterhen cannot be legarded as one of 

 the true diving birds, inasmuch as it appears to go 

 under the water rather for the purpose of conceal- 

 ment than in the regular pursuit of food. It 

 will remain hidden in sedges or overhanging 

 vegetation with merely its bill projecting from 

 the surface. When swimming under water it 

 uses its wings after the manner of the auks. 

 The grebes, on the other hand, keep the wings 

 tightly compressed to the sides, and glide through 

 the water like fishes. 



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