WINTER. 



dead young one was sent to me once from Sutherlandshire. 

 It was an ungainly little creature, covered with coarse black 

 down. 



One of the most interesting sights in the Zoo is the feeding of 

 the diving birds, in a large glass tank, in the aquarium-house. 

 One can see their various modes of progression under water, 

 in pursuit of the minnows thrown to them. The Guillemot 

 uses both wings and legs at once, flying and swimming and 

 steering with its feet. The Penguin uses its wings only for 

 progression under water ; they are not large enough to fly in the 

 air with. It steers with its hinder end. It shines bright with 

 air bubbles all over its body when it first plunges under water. 

 The Darter, a most elegant slender bird of the Cormorant species, 

 uses its legs only in swimming under water. It moves fast and 

 with great ease, catching fish most cleverly, reaching them with 

 its long neck, which, however stretched out, seems always to be 

 able to reach a little farther by relaxing a sort of kink in the 

 middle of it. (Looking at them there is much more agreeable 

 than having to follow a liberated Guillemot into the sea to find 

 out if it really flies under water.) When the Darter has caught 

 its minnow, it comes up to the surface, tosses up the fish and 

 catches it again, so as to be able to swallow it head foremost, as 

 the Kingfishers do ; indeed, it would be difficult to swallow a fish 

 whole in any other way. 



THE LITTLE AUK (Mergulus alle). Those little birds have often 

 been found in Loch Moidart in winter, driven in by a severe 

 storm from the north. I once owned a stuffed specimen in 



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