no BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xiv. 



amid the breakers. For, once beneath their element, they 

 seem no longer to be ducks, but rather some strange creatures 

 from a fairy tale ; and the sight of a diminutive Buffel-head 

 as it shoots through the limpid, bubbling water, its little 

 flapping padd es showing bright red against the snow-white 

 flanks, suggests almost anything rather than the plump 

 and extremely material member of the Anatidae that it 

 actually is. 



Their speed beneath the water I should estimate to be, at 

 the very least, one foot per second in the case of the smaller 

 species ; in the Merganser, considerably more. 



In conclusion, I need hardly say that there is no intention 

 in these notes of refuting the opinions of other and possibly 

 more experienced observers. Deductions based on the 

 findings of a single individual, especially upon such a subject 

 as the present, can be of little scientific value by themselves. 

 They may, however, assist us to our goal ; for it is, after all, 

 only by comparing the statements of a great many observers 

 that we can hope to arrive at any useful conclusions. 



