WATER BIRDS. 207 



and certainly never succeeded in witnessing it. The 

 feathers on the rump were dressed in the same way as 

 those on the other parts of the body, but there was no 

 repeated application to the gland, as must have been 

 the case if it had been necessary to obtain thence a 

 supply of oil. Let any one watch a duck thus engaged, 

 and they will bear me out in this ; and yet at the next 

 plunge into the water the feathers are as oily and re- 

 pellant as ever, and the drops of water shoot off them 

 like molten silver ; the feathers on the head, too, are as 

 repellant as those on the body ; and yet it is evident 

 that the bird cannot possibly apply oil to that part. 



It has often struck me as very strange that one writer 

 after another should have gone on repeating the same 

 story, without apparently taking the trouble to examine 

 and test its truth. There may, indeed, be some little 

 plausibility about it. All birds, from a natural love of 

 cleanliness and personal comfort, preen their plumage ; 

 but water birds are more assiduous in this respect than 

 land birds, and for a very good reason. It is absolutely 

 necessary that their plumage shall lie very closely, both 

 to diminish friction during their passage through the 

 water, but more especially to prevent the latter having 

 any access to their bodies, thus increasing their buoyancy 

 and maintaining their warmth. To a water bird, there- 

 fore, a broken and disordered feather is of the utmost 

 importance ; it is essential that all shall be smooth and 

 compact ; and it is to effect this that they are so fre- 

 quently seen trimming them and passing the webs 

 through their bills; and this act has doubtless given 

 rise to the supposition of a practice which I believe to 

 have no existence, and which, with few exceptions, has 



