538 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
from the position of its legs and feet, it is not a 
great pedestrian, and, although a good flyer when 
once on the wing, it cannot rise from the land: when 
on that element it appears to progress more like a 
seal than a bird, jumping along on its hind legs and 
wings. 
In a note on the habits of this bird, in the ‘ Zoolo- 
gist, Mr. Blake-Knox says he has never been able 
to keep one tame, as it always wears its feet off by 
endeavouring to swim on dry land: he adds that it 
always appears to remain fierce and implacable, 
flying at any one who approaches it, and a wound 
from a Northern Diver’s beak is no joke. Montagu, 
on the other hand, mentions one which was kept 
tame in a pond for a considerable time, and says 
that it became so tame in a few days that it would 
come from one side of the pond to the other at the 
call, to take food from the hand, the food being fish, 
or, when that failed, raw meat.* Another, mentioned 
by Yarrell as having been kept partially tame, does 
not appear in the least to have possessed the amiable 
temper of Montagu’s bird, but would defend himself 
in great anger by darting at the intruder and striking 
powerfully with its beak: this bird appears occa- 
sionally to have come ashore out of his pond to hide 
and bask in the grass on the edge. 
On the very few occasions on which this bird 
* Montagu’s Dictionary, by Newman. 
