20 THE DIVEE. 



fall in with it, by its very short wing-cases, which 

 do not half cover its enormous distended body. I 

 took it up gently in my fingers, when it helplessly 

 crumpled up its legs, as if it had learned the lesson 

 divinely taught, but which Christians find it so hard 

 to practise. — " Eesist not evil," — and lay passively in 

 my hand, weeping at every joint of every limb a 

 tear of orange-coloured fluid, that has conferred the 

 name of Oil-beetle upon it. This liquor, which had a 

 rank odour, stained the skin of my hand ; and I soon 

 put down my captive, who was glad to disappear 

 among the stalks of the grass. 



Swimming in the sea not far from the shore, I saw 

 a bird that was evidently larger than a goose ; with 

 the aid of a pocket telescope I made out that it was 

 a Loon, or Great Northern Diver, (Golymbus gla- 

 cialisj, a very fine sea-fowl, and not uncommon on 

 the Dorset Coast in winter. The rocky beach below 

 •was destitute of anything that could alarm the wary 

 bird, and he gradually swam in nearer and nearer, 

 till at length he was not a stone's throw from the 

 .shore, and I, from my lofty lookout, had a fair view 

 of him, now swimming leisurely, turning hither and 

 thither, now diving with grace, disappearing with 

 rapidity, and coming up after many seconds, a long 

 distance from the spot. 



A fisherman passing by told me a curious circum- 

 stance, connected with the tides in this Bay, which by 

 experience I afterwards found to be correct. Instead 

 of alternately ebbing for six hours and flowing for the 

 same period, as usual, the tide here remains at its 

 lowest for four hours before it begins to flow ; or, as 



