OXTURA LEUOCEPHALA 307 



"After some five minutes of this the hawk went off Llisappointetl, 

 and 1 now approacheJ nearer still ... It was swimming very 

 low on the water ; . . . its tail was carried, when swimming, 

 always at a right-angle to its body ; . . . when it dived, the tail 

 was straightened out, and then appeared much longer. ... It 

 would not rise as I came nearer, but merely swam away from me, 

 diving every now and then. 



'' In this tank Major Barton procured a male in December, 1901, 

 of which he remarks : ' It came up several times, only showing its 

 iiead and neck, the body and tail remaining under water.' " 



These brief notes agree well with what has been written on the 

 bird as it shows itself in Europe. From this it would appear that, 

 whilst the bird is a wonderful swimmer and diver, it is almost 

 lielpless on land, and though of very quick flight, it is very loath to 

 take to wing, not rising until absolutely forced to do so, and then 

 only flying for a very short distance, after which it re-setties, and is 

 then harder than ever to again get off the water. 



It has, according to Naumann, the power of swimming in the 

 water with only head and neck projecting in the same manner as 

 the birds of the genus Anhinga or Plofus and the Cormorants do. 



Most authors agree that it swims with its tail upright, as observed 

 by Finn, Chill, Field, and others in India ; but Chapman and Buck, 

 in their ' Wild Spain,' give quite a different description. 



"The most extraordinary wildfowl we ever met with — gambolling 

 and splashing about on the water, cliasing each other, now above, 

 now beneath its surface, like a school of porpoises ; they appeared half- 

 birds, half-water tortoises. . . . Presently the strangers entered 

 a small reed-margined bight, swimming very deep, only their turtle- 

 shaped backs and heads in sight ; . . . with small wings like a 

 Grebe, and long stiff tail like a Cormorant ; the latter, being carried 

 under water as a rudder, is not visil)le when the bird is swimming." 



It is a fresh-water species, and, as far as I can ascertain, does not 

 haunt coasts and salt-water. 



