45 DAN MEINERTZHAGEN'S DIARY. 



By looking through the telescope this even- 

 ing, I could see on the water in front of this 

 house, Widgeon, Tufted, and Golden Eye. The 

 Golden Eyes in courting the females were going 

 through all manner of grotesque attitudes, and 

 particularly that well-known one of throwing 

 their heads over their backs. All the ducks 

 are in particularly beautiful plumage. 



Coming back from my walk this evening, 

 I put up a pair of Moor Hens near the town. 

 Bob saw a Black-throated Diver, and some 

 Reed Buntings. 



May jth. To-day has been a fine windy day, 

 and a most curious thing has happened. At a 

 certain time in the middle of the day, there 

 appears to have been a regular hurricane on 

 the river for a few minutes. I was in the 

 woods and consequently did not feel it much. 

 But when I returned, we walked down to the 

 rapid, and found the ice piled up on the bank 

 huge blocks twelve feet square, and two or three 

 feet high, piled up one on the top of another, 

 in some places eight or nine feet high. It seems 

 almost impossible that such a thing could have 

 happened, and whether these blocks were raised 

 by pressure from below, or heaved up bodily by 

 some huge waves, I cannot say. But the whole 

 scene presented the most curious appearance, and 



