FEATHERED ATHLETES 71 



for food, that it may sink with greater ease. He 

 disgorges them when he returns to the surface. If 

 this is true, it is indeed a most remarkable way of 

 adjusting weight. Surely a wise diver could de- 

 vise a better scheme for a ballast! 



Numerous young divers seem to take to sub- 

 mergence as a means of self-protection. The 

 chicks of the lotus-bird will dive under water at the 

 least disturbance, and sometimes remain under 

 from ten to fifteen minutes. The great-crested 

 grebe not only buUds its nest on the water, where 

 it floats around, but gathers the material, such as 

 sea-weed and rush, from the bottom of deep water. 

 How true are the words of Mary Howett when 

 she speaks of this inhabitant of the seal 



"Amidst the foaming wave thou sat'st 

 And steerd'st thy little boat. 

 Thy nest of rush and water-reed 

 So bravely set afloat." 



The chief aim of divers is to get food. It is not 

 uncommon for diving birds to be caught in fish- 

 nets at a great distance under the surface of the 

 water. The shag is especially gifted in diving, 

 while the darters and the great-crested grebe will 

 dive with such rapidity and then swim so fast that 

 they may easily cover two hundred feet in less than 

 half a minute. 



