A LABRADOR SPRING 



or no muscular effort, yet these same birds 

 shot on the wing float on the surface when dead 

 as lightly as feathers. Each body feather is 

 governed by tiny muscles, and by their action 

 the feathers can be depressed so that the large 

 amount of air normally held between them is 

 expelled, and the body loses its buoyancy. I 

 was interested to try the experiment on a 

 recently killed eider on this trip on the Labrador 

 coast, and found that while the dead body 

 floated high in the water, by expelling the air 

 from the feathers and replacing it with water 

 the bird sank so deeply that only a small 

 fraction appeared above the surface. This 

 simple experiment, therefore, explains the other- 

 wise mysterious power of some water birds to 

 sink in the water without apparent leg or wing 

 action. After rising to the surface from diving, 

 birds usually shake themselves as if to admit 

 air to their feathers. 



Among the ducks, old squaws, scoters, and 

 eiders, all common Labrador birds, plainly use 

 their wings in diving. Once, while watching some 

 old squaws sporting in the water and chasing each 

 other on or just below the surface, I distinctly 

 saw the wing of one of them cut the water from 



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