148 BIRD WATCHING 



has cast up. They ride like corks on the water, they 

 are the arch of each wave and the dimple of every 

 ripple. 



Eider-ducks feed by diving to the bottom of the 

 sea off the rocks where it is shallow, and getting there 

 what is palatable. Probably this is, in most cases, 

 eaten under water, but whilst, as a rule, emerging 

 empty-mouthed, they occasionally bring up something 

 in their bill, and dispose of it floating on the surface. 

 In one case this was, I think, a crab ; in another, 

 some kind of shell-fish. Their dive is a sudden dip 

 down, and in the act of it they open the wings, which 

 they use under water, as can be plainly seen for a 

 little way below the surface. This opening of the 

 wings in the moment of diving is, I believe, a sure 

 sign that they are used as fins or flippers under water, 

 and that the feet play little or no part. 



Birds, amongst others, that dive in this way are — to 

 begin with — the black guillemot. 



" Looking down from the cliffs into the quiet pools 

 and inlets, one can see these little birds — the dab- 

 chicks of the ocean — swimming under water and 

 using their wings as paddles, perfectly well. Instantly 

 on diving they become of a glaucous green colour, and 

 are then no longer like things of this world, but 

 fanciful merely, suggesting sprites, goblins, little 

 subaqueous bottle imps, for their shape is like a 

 fat-bodied bottle or flat flask. Great green bubbles 

 they look ,like, and so too but — larger and still 

 greener — do the eider-ducks." In their small size 

 and rounded shape, in their deariness, their pretty 

 little ways and actions, in everything, almost, these 

 little black guillemots are the marine counterpart of 



