Song Birds and Water Fowl 



more inland species, living along rivers, lakes, 

 and bayous, rather than by salt water, and is 

 the chief fresh-water diver. Disappearing al- 

 most without a ripple, it comes up again many 

 hundred yards distant ; and, when fleeing from 

 danger, it often swims along with only its head 

 and long neck above water, presenting the ap- 

 pearance of a snake. Its long bill, small head, 

 serpentine neck, and very slender body give it 

 a very snaky look even upon land ; and, with 

 its graceful form and handsome plumage, it is as 

 beautiful as it is singular. Yet, although some- 

 times indulging in prolonged and lofty soaring 

 on the wing, it spends more than half of its 

 time by day in the water. Through this transi- 

 tion species we come to the 



Swimming-aerial Group. — We are now dis- 

 tinctly on and above the water, and here we find 

 as the most important, gulls and terns, which 

 have elsewhere been fully described, easily 

 aquatic and gracefully aerial. In this division, 

 too, is a genuine marine bird of prey — the 

 jager (hunter) — which obtains its food by rob- 

 bing the booty captured by small gulls and 

 terns. By one further ascent we come to the 



Aerial Group, consisting of the most purely 

 oceanic birds, " rarely landing except to breed, 



92 



