FAMILY DIVING 311 



neck. Then a second head showed itself, and, at 

 last, with a peep here, and a scramble there, I made 

 out all three. I am not quite sure of this, however, 

 when the partner bird — the male, as I think him — 

 swims into the pool, and instantly, as he appears, a 

 chick tumbles down the mother, and comes swimming 

 towards him. It is fed on the water, and, directly, 

 afterwards the old bird dives several times in 

 succession, at the end of which he has a piece of 

 weed in his bill, which he reaches to the chick. 

 The chick is thus fed several times, and then climbs 

 on to his father's back, who, almost before he is 

 under the wing, dives with him. On coming up, 

 again, he rises a little in the water, and shakes him- 

 self violently, but the chick is not thrown off — 

 he sits tight all the time. A second chick now 

 swims up from the mother, and is fed in just the 

 same way. Then, as the male dives again, the first 

 chick becomes detached, and the two are on the 

 water together. Both are soon fed, the male diving 

 for them as he did before, and, whilst this is going 

 on, I see the third chick, looking out between the 

 wings of its mother. All three, then, have been on 

 her back, and there, without the smallest doubt, 

 they were, when she dived down in that tremendously 

 sudden manner. It is a pity I had not seen them 

 get up, first, as in the case of the male, and, also, that 

 I lost sight of the female for a few moments, but 

 it is quite improbable that the chicks should have 

 been waiting, somewhere, for the mother, and taken 

 their seats during the one little break in the 

 continuity of my observations. At this early age 

 the chicks are hardly ever to be seen without 



