WATER BIRDS. gE 
and certainly never succeeded in witnessing it. The 
feathers on the rump were dressed in the same way as 
those on the other parts of the body, but there was no 
repeated application to the gland, as must have been 
the case if it had been necessary to obtain thence a 
supply of oil. Let any one watch a duck thus engaged, 
and they will bear me out in this; and yet at the next 
plunge into the water the feathers are as oily and re- 
pellant as ever, and the drops of water shoot off them 
like molten silver; the feathers on the head, too, are as 
repellant as those on the body; and yet it is evident 
that the bird cannot possibly apply oil to that part. 
It has often struck me as very strange that one writer 
after another should have gone on repeating the same 
story, without apparently taking the trouble to examine 
and test its truth. There may, indeed, be some little 
plausibility about it. All birds, from a natural love of 
cleaniiness and personal comfort, preen their plumage; 
but water birds are more assiduous in this respect than 
land birds, and for a very good reason. It is absolutely 
necessary that their plumage shall lie very elosely, both 
to diminish friction during their passage through the 
water, but more especially to prevent the latter having 
any access to their bodies, thus increasing their buoyancy 
and maintaining their warmth. To a water bird, there- 
fore, a broken and disordered feather is of the utmost 
importance ; it is essential that all shall be smooth and 
compact ; and it is to effect this that they are so fre- 
quently seen trimming them and passing the webs 
through their bills; and this act has doubtless given 
rise to the supposition of a practice which I believe to 
have no existence, and which, with few exceptions, has 
