MODES OF SWIMMING OF WILD-FOWL. 247 



tance at which a bird can be distinguished. The divers, 

 such as the cormorant, the black-throated diver and others of 

 the same kind, swim very flat in the water, showing scarcely 

 any part except the top of their back, and their head and 

 neck, which all these birds carry straight and erect, seldom 

 or never bending and arching their throat like ducks or 

 geese. In consequence of their swimming so low in the water 

 it is difficult to kill any of these diving birds, unless you can 

 get at them from a rock or height above them. Widgeon 

 swim rather flat and low in the water. Mallards and teal 

 keep more of their bodies above it, and are in consequence 

 easier to kill while swimming. Pochards, scaup ducks, and 

 others of that kind swim higher still, but are very strong 

 swimmers and difficult to catch when only winged, diving 

 incessantly, and going out to the middle of the lake or pond, 

 unlike the teal or mallard, who invariably, when winged or 

 otherwise wounded, make for the land, if the sportsman 

 keeps out of sight, and endeavour to hide themselves in the 

 grass at the water's edge. Geese when winged dive with far 

 greater quickness and facility than would be expected, and I 

 have had very great trouble in catching a wild goose on a 

 lake, after I had knocked her down, although I was rowing 

 in a light and easily -managed boat. Careful observation of 

 the different manner of swimming adopted by the several 

 kinds of wild fowl when wounded is of the greatest use to 

 the sportsman, saving him and his retriever many a weary 

 and often useless wetting. Even with the best water-dog it 

 is frequently of no avail to attempt to catch winged ducks of 

 any kind. In cold weather, when the water is rough and 

 the birds get a good start in an open lake, it is not only loss 

 of time but is cruel to urge your dog to follows them too 

 long. I have often succeeded in bagging winged ducks, 

 widgeon, and teal by walking round the edge of the lochs an 

 hour or two after I had shot them, as the birds when left to 

 themselves, the rest of the flock having gone away, either 

 leave the water and hide in the grass or else come close to 

 the edge. 



It occasionally happens in a small pool that a winged wild 

 duck goes under and never appears again, having become en- 

 tangled in the weeds, &c., at the bottom. 



AVild fowl seldom live any length of time after they are 

 winged, as they generally fall a prey to foxes and other 

 vermin, all of whom have a habit of hunting round lakes and 



