YOUNG BIRDS IN THE NURSERY 69 



which were rarely more than two in number. As she 

 reappeared after a long dive with a silvery fish in her 

 mouth she would give a loud, harsh call to her offspring, 

 often at considerable distance, the young and their parent 

 having often travelled in opposite directions during the 

 time occupied by the dive. They at once made towards 

 her, uttering a rapid, whistling call, like -pee-a, pee-a, pee-a. 

 In their haste, if one were behind them, one could see 

 that they were swimming higher out of the water than is 

 the case with the adult. And this because, the stroke of 

 the foot being lateral, rather than downwards, at each 

 backward thrust there appeared a little semicircular 

 splash of water, simultaneously, one on either side. 



As they reached her the most vociferous apparently 

 got the fish ; which was at once popped into his mouth. 

 Sometimes, however, the procedure differed : instead of 

 making a continuous approach, she would traverse the 

 distance between them by a series of short dives, appearing 

 and disappearing all the while with the fish in her mouth ; 

 and thereby it would seem she was striving to impress on 

 them the association of diving with food. When she at 

 last reached them the fish would be dropped upon the 

 water for the young to pick up themselves. If it retained 

 enough vitality to swim feebly away, she would catch it 

 again and lay it before them till one or other succeeded 

 in seizing it. Immediately after she would dive, and 

 commonly the young would at once follow her ; but their 

 submergence was but momentary, increasing as the birds 

 grew larger. There seemed to be no compulsory diving, 

 as appears to be the case in the razor-biU, for example. 



When the food has simply to be picked up off the ground, 

 as with seeds or insects, young birds have little to learn 

 in the matter of securing food. The act of picking up is 



