444 THE DIVERS 



it is able to ride out heavy storms, and at the great depths at which it 

 can take its prey the water is always still. It will, however, frequently 

 feed close to the line of breakers, following the shoals of young coal- 

 fish into the voes of the Shetlands. It is generally considered a wary 

 bird, and most of those obtained in winter are immature birds. 

 Directly it finds itself observed, it sinks its body in the water, so 

 that the hind-neck is submerged, and often only the head is visible. 

 Generally its next move is a dive, which is performed very character- 

 istically. There is, as Saxby says, a slight start, and the bird has 

 disappeared, with hardly a ripple to mark the spot. It is so quick a 

 movement that the eye cannot follow it. There is no violent plunge 

 or header ; l the bird simply vanishes, and reappears at anything from 

 a hundred to four hundred yards away. If still pursued it again dis- 

 appears in the same way, but if not disturbed it may be seen dipping 

 its bill into the water and quietly sipping it. Under ordinary circum- 

 stances the dive is entirely due to the enormous power exerted by the 

 feet. Mr. H. Blake Knox says that it can spring to the height of a 

 man's head, merely by the aid of the feet, though this seems scarcely 

 credible, and inconsistent with the fact that it is unable to take wing 

 except from the water. Saxby also relates an incident which shows 

 what extraordinary muscular strength it possesses. A slightly wounded 

 bird was tossed overboard, with a line fastened to one foot, from a 

 boat thirteen feet in the keel, but light for its size, being built of 

 Norway pine. It managed for many minutes to tow the boat steadily, 

 remaining submerged all the time except when it rose for a few 

 seconds to take breath. 2 When no special exertion is required, the 

 wings are closely pressed to the sides, and the whole work is done by 

 the feet. At the Skerryvore light one of these birds got stranded by 

 the tide in a pool some twenty feet long and three feet broad. As the 

 pool was four feet deep, and there was no room for it to use its wings, 



1 E. T. Booth, who had excellent opportunities of watching the dive at close quarters, came 

 to the conclusion that they went down head foremost. The fore-part of the body certainly 

 seems to dip as the bird disappears. 



J Saxby, Birds of Shetland, p. 278. 



