The Mergansers. 407 



if they should happen to find themselves 

 hemmed in, in a cul de sac, will attempt to 

 dive back past the punt rather than fly 

 over ' dry ' land (or what Mergansers 

 may regard as such). They feed entirely 

 on shrimps and small fish, and are quite 

 uneatable. There are, however, few more 

 beautiful objects than a newly-killed 

 Merganser drake. As he lies on the fore- 

 deck — the weird, half-uncanny expression 

 in his blood-red eye still undimmed ; the 

 slim, snake-like neck and glossy head, 

 adorned with its long double crest — one- 

 half standing straight out backwards, like 

 the ' toppin ' of a Peewit, the other 

 pointing downwards toward the back {not 

 pendent, as invariably represented in books) ; 

 then the lovely but evanescent salmon 

 hues which tinge his breast — all these 

 points, together with the bold and brightly 

 contrasted plumage, combine to form as 

 beautiful an object as any that Nature has 

 produced." 



Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey quite cor- 

 roborates this account of the wariness of 

 the Merganser. He says : — " Of all wild- 

 fowl, except perhaps Golden-eyes, they are 

 the most restless and wary ; never quiet, 

 always swimming, diving, and flying, and 

 to no apparent end. I never yet saw one 



