At Home with a Hell -Diver 



249 



into sight, diving and splashing as before to distract my attention, and I 

 barely caught a glimpse of the young before they disappeared. I realized that 

 it would be futile to try to observe them so long as they had the whole pond 

 for a hiding-place, and I therefore resolved to catch them and limit their 

 range. The next task was to tie threads to their legs and to fasten them near 

 the edge of the rushes where they could be watched conveniently after the old 

 birds should have found them. 



After about two hours I returned, but there was no sign of either of the old 

 birds until five o'clock, after the whole day had been spent in fruitless waiting. 

 Then one of them approached, calling 'cup'-'cup,' as it had done before, 



INDULGING IN A PRODIGIOUS YAWN 



and the young answered with low, lisping peeps. Turning her tail to them, 

 she lifted her wings and waited their climbing on her back, encouraging them 

 to follow by moving slowly away. This they did, but usually reached the limit 

 of their threads before they were able to crawl up completely. I was inter- 

 ested to see whether, after repeated trials and failures on the part of the old 

 bird, she would fathom the difficulty; but it proved entirely beyond the scope 

 of her past experience. I secured a number of photographs of the old bird with 

 the young at her side but as soon as they were safely ensconced upon her 

 back, they snuggled down beneath her wings, hardly ruffling her feathers, 

 and never deigned to raise their heads. The light soon became too poor for 

 photographing so I freed the young and awaited the result. The old bird 

 backed up to them, as she had done scores of times before, raised her wings in 

 the approved fashion and started slowly off. The young were soon safely upon 



