278 THE BIRDS ABOUT Us. 



the floor, but when offered a tub of water, " seemed 

 crazed with delight. It dived and splashed, but was 

 puzzled by its close quarters, and could not realize 

 that the tub's sides were so inconveniently near." 



" There is much," says Dr. Lockwood, " to wonder 

 at and to admire in the sea-dove's ways when in her 

 own element. . . . When it suits they can ride the 

 crest like the stormy petrel. But see ! that gorgeous 

 wave approaching, and that Dovekie goes right 

 through it as an arrow through a cloud of smoke. 

 ... It can float like a bubble and progress like a 

 shot." 



The Guillemots are entirely marine, according to 

 Nuttall, but the inevitable river stragglers have occa- 

 sionally turned up. They are arctic birds that wan- 

 der southward in winter and are not abundant at any 

 time, even off the coast. They are strong flyers, 

 moving rapidly in direct lines, and at but a slight 

 distance above the water. They are expert divers, 

 and move under the water with much rapidity. They 

 feed on crustaceans, fish, and such animal food as 

 comes in their way. They are commonly known as 

 Sea-pigeons. 



The Puffin, which is at once recognized by its 

 enormous box-like beak, is another of the arctic 

 birds, or semi-arctic, that wanders down the Atlantic 

 coast in winter as far south as New Jersey. One is 

 said to have been killed on the Delaware River near 

 Philadelphia in 1876. Occasionally they have been 

 found a few miles inland in New Jersey after an un- 

 usually violent storm. 



Of the Divers, or Loons, and Grebes we have 



