MAY 115 



desultory series. In discoursing of the gannet or solan 

 goose, I spoke of its headlong plunge after a fish as 

 being performed with closed wings. The same friend 

 who watched the peregrine and the heron has called 

 my attention to the error ; the gannet's wings are stiffly 

 extended during the descent. The action is similar to 

 that of a paper kite shooting to the ground, and the 

 reason for keeping the wings spread is obvious and 

 twofold. First, the velocity of the descent is rendered 

 far greater than if it depended merely on the gravita- 

 tion of a feather body. The air acts on the flexible 

 ends of the pen-feathers as a propelling force, just as 

 it does upon those of a soaring gull, which will sail 

 for miles against the wind without a single stroke of 

 the wings, which are kept perfectly rigid. Second, in 

 pursuing an object so elusive as a fish, accuracy in 

 steering is of prime importance, and this could not be 

 achieved if the bird descended like a bullet with closed 

 wings. 



XXVI 



This has been a lamentable nesting season for peewits 

 [1908]. The harvest of their first laying was Bad times 

 as diligently and universally garnered as for Peewits 

 usual, nor does it appear that there was any shortage 

 of plovers' eggs in the market. In ordinary seasons 

 no harm is done to the general stock by gathering 

 the early eggs, and the rule enforced by most county 

 councils, prohibiting the taking of eggs after April 15th, 

 leaves plenty of time for the birds to lay a second 

 time. No doubt they did so last month, but the wet 



