510 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



The Goldeneye is a very expert swimmer and 

 diver, so much so that, like many others of this 

 family, it is often a work of considerable difficulty to 

 recover a winged bird if it falls into the water. In 

 the pages of the ' Zoologist ' Dr. Saxby gives many 

 accounts of his difficulties in getting wounded birds, 

 and takes the opportunity of expressing his disbelief 

 in a notion that is, to a certain extent, prevalent 

 that these birds when wounded dive and hold on to 

 the weeds by their mouths till they drown them- 

 selves. In this disbelief I quite agree with him : in 

 inland waters where there are rushes and weeds 

 these birds and even the Wild Duck, which is not 

 nearly so much of a diver dive into some weedy 

 part, where they lie perfectly concealed, allowing 

 nothing but a very small portion of the bill, just 

 enough to admit air, to appear above water : if there 

 are no weeds I have known them conceal themselves 

 in the same way under cover of any overhanging 

 grass or unevenness of the bank, and so quietly do 

 they rise for the purpose, putting their bills above 

 water, that even in a still quiet pond hardly any 

 circles are made on the water by this operation to 

 attract attention. In the open sea, perhaps, it is 

 more difficult for them to escape in this way, espe- 

 cially on a calm day ; but still I am sure they do so 

 occasionally, making use of any little bit of floating 

 sea-weed to conceal themselves, or even without any 

 such help, if they make a good long dive, they may 



