The Mergansers. 407 



if they should happen to find themselves 

 hemmed in, in a cul de sac^ will attempt to 

 dive back past the punt rather than fly 

 over ' dry ' land (or what Mergansers 

 may regard as such). They feed entirely 

 on shrimps and small fish, and are quite 

 uneatable. There are, however, few more 

 beautiful objects than a newly-killed 

 Merganser drake. As he lies on the fore- 

 deck the weird, half-uncanny expression 

 in his blood-red eye still undimmed ; the 

 slim, snake-like neck and glossy head, 

 adorned with its long double crest one- 

 half standing straight out backwards, like 

 the ' toppin ' of a Peewit, the other 

 pointing downwards toward the back (not 

 pendent, as invariably represented in books) ; 

 then the lovely but evanescent salmon 

 hues which tinge his breast all these 

 points, together with the bold and brightly 

 contrasted plumage, combine to form as 

 beautiful an object as any that Nature has 

 produced." 



Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey quite cor- 

 roborates this account of the wanness of 

 the Merganser. He says : " Of all wild- 

 fowl, except perhaps Golden-eyes, they are 

 the most restless and wary ; never quiet, 

 always swimming, diving, and flying, and 

 to no apparent end. I never yet saw one 



