To Mountain Tarn 



down that length. Without abatement of speed, 

 it swings round in a mighty curve, returns to 

 the spot in a powerful descending spiral, and 

 vanishes head foremost. The dive is cleaner 

 than the tern's above it rises a shapelier, 

 mightier bell. All the force used up in the dive 

 it gets from the flight aloft, nor in any way does 

 it try to force itself further down. 



The surface divers, the ducks and grebes of 

 the lakes, the guillemots and razor-bills, the red- 

 throats and black-throats of the sea, turn up their 

 tails, and go down unnoticed or only seen by the 

 curious. But the poise, the dip and rise, the 

 sporting element, the eagerness often breaking 

 out into a scream on sighting the game, the bolt- 

 like descent, the splash, the bell-like rise of the 

 broken water arrest the preoccupied wanderer by 

 lake or coast, waken the dreamer rocking out in 

 the boat. The divers from a height separate 

 themselves from the rest, are the idylls of the 

 scene. 



165 



