Ramb/e in Eastern Iceland ^c. 371 



sheet of water was not more than eighty yards in diameter, 

 and considering we were on different sides of it, the birds 

 should have been well within reasonable range, even if they 

 had strictly kept to the middle, which they did not. How- 

 ever, a serious expenditure of No. 4 resulted in nil; for 

 the birds dived at the flash, our only consolation being to 

 observe the shot sweep over the spot which a fraction of a 

 second before was occupied by the bird or birds. They 

 seemed to have no desire to take flight ; and an examination 

 of the water proving it to be only some two feet deep, with 

 a firm bottom of granulated pumice (erupted from Askja in 

 1875), we resolved to try wading to closer quarters, with the 

 result that the first shot turned one of them over. It proved 

 to be a young Long-tailed Duck [Harelda glacialis), mth 

 nestling down still adhering in places. The remaining bird 

 was not so easily brought to bag ; although fired at more than 

 once at not more than fifteen yards, it disappeared like magic, 

 but must have received some of the shot. At last it was 

 obtained by firing the moment the surface of the water showed 

 signs of breaking on its reappearance after a dive,, and proved 

 to be a very old female of the same species. Why this bird, 

 in the full possession of her primary feathers, did not resort to 

 her wings as a possible means of escape must remain a puzzle. 

 A little later we had another illustration of the early develop- 

 ment of this faculty of diving. A solitary Long-tailed Duck 

 was surprised on a small pool and dived instantly, but too 

 late ; for it came to the surface mortally wounded, and when 

 picked up proved to be little more than a mere nestling, its 

 upper plumes being a mass of down, while its wing-quills 

 were sprouting from the pen, and only some two inches long. 

 This was an interesting specimen, inasmuch as it afforded 

 evidence of the late breeding of the species. Duck were to 

 be seen on most of the tarns, some of them taking flight 

 on our approach, while others kept well out of range. On 

 the largest lake we managed to secure, in a little bay, four 

 young but full-grown Long-tailed Ducks, none of which 

 offered to rise, but trusted to diving as a means of escape. 

 Here, too, were a pair of Whoopers {Cygnus musicus), which. 



