A SUMMER ON THE YENESEI 153 



rights lie should have shared ; and all day long his devoted 

 parents flew backwards and forwards between the pool 

 and the sea with fish to satisfy his growing appetite. 

 When you visited the place, you might see the anxious 

 couple swimming to and fro with their bills raised in 

 that attitude of supercilious haughtiness that is 

 characteristic of these birds. After them paddled the 

 awkward squab, with his infant bill tilted also, in absurd 

 travesty of their gesture. He always seemed more at 

 ease when they took wing and left him to shift for 

 himself. Then you could only tell that he was nervous 

 because every now and then he pretended to drink. 

 This little habit is typical of the adult diver when 

 uneasy, and it was interesting to notice it in so young 

 a bird. 



The divers laid their eggs so late, and the incubation 

 period was so long, that this chick, like many more, was 

 still in down by the middle of August, and I used to 

 wonder however he would acquire sufficient wing- 

 power to carry him hundreds of miles to the south 

 before the snow came. On 25th August he reached 

 the river. He was still quite unable to fly, and unless 

 his parents carried him, he must have crawled across 

 half a mile of sphagnum and driftwood, for there was 

 no outlet to the pool where he was hatched. He 

 screamed terribly, just like a child who fears a ducking, 

 and tried to clamber on to the back of his mother, who 

 dodged him each time by diving down and popping 

 up again a yard or two away. Three or four more old 

 divers came to look on at the youngster's initiation into 

 the home of his order, and between them they kept up 



