Acentropus. 135 



nati found them sitting sluggishly on the Poiamogeton, 

 close to the water, the majority on the flowers and young 

 seeds ; when active, they ran on the surface of the water. 

 According to Dale, " they flew nearly on the surface of 

 the water, sporting about in various directions." Brown 

 found them quietly sitting on leaves, or other objects 

 which protruded from the stream, whilst others flew 

 slowly, or, as he elsewhere expressed it, were '^ skipping 

 along over the surface " of the Trent. Reutti^s observa- 

 tion is, that the male flies always close to and on the 

 water, by day only involuntarily, but by night briskly. 

 M'Lachlan records that between eight and nine, p.m., in 

 June, " they began flying rather rapidly over the surface 

 of the water, and close to it, occasionally coming on to 

 the wet mud." Knaggs mentions that " it skims along 

 the surface of the water," but although the usual habit is 

 to fly close to the water, he has " occasionally seen it 

 mount perpendicularly into the air, rising higher and 

 higher, until lost to sight." M'Lachlan tells me that he too 

 saw the male thus mount into the air, but only when caught 

 by a current of wind, so that it was an involuntary act. 

 Boyd tells me that he observed the females to fly, as a 

 rule, at a greater height above the water than the males. 

 Nolcken found them, either sitting drowsily on floating 

 pieces of Potatnogeton or other objects, often two or 

 three so close together that at first he thought they 

 were in coitu, or fluttering about in small circles close to 

 the surface, then raising themselves a few inches above 

 it, but descending again immediately, so that their feet 

 were almost always touching the water. Barrett " found 

 some faggots sunk with stones in one corner of a pond, 

 leaving some of the twigs above water ; and on the under- 

 side of these twigs niveus swarmed, sometimes clustered 

 four or six in a bunch ; they were very sluggish, and, if 

 knocked ofi" a twig, only buzzed along the surface of the 

 water till they found another." Ritsema describes them 

 as sitting by day on the stems of plants close to the 

 water, and when disturbed, coming quickly to rest again, 

 but in the evening, flying nimbly in large circles over 

 the surface, touching the water itself, and settling but 

 rarely. Corbin describes the flight as most peculiar, '' as 

 it never seems to leave the surface of the water, but 

 swiftly flutters its tiny wings, and in the dusk of the 

 evening looks almost as if it was swimming about here 

 and there; .... but in the day-time it will be found 



