94 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



rising, and is now at its highest), and goes quietly on to the 

 eyrie. At 5.45, 6.35, 8.10, 9, and 9.40 she is still there. This 

 watching from a tent, and being afraid to go outside it, is horrible 

 confinement. In one short previous ramble, however, I had 

 made the following observations. 



On the summit of the cliffs, here, into which the first steep 

 green slopes, rising almost from the shore, break, is a little 

 green-peaked hillock, making the loftiest point hereabouts. 

 Seated upon it, one seems to look directly down upon the waters 

 of the lake, so that, still as they now are, one can see to the 

 bottom of them, for some way out. A pair of Mergansers — the 

 male in fine nuptial garb — are coasting along, and constantly 

 diving for food. All their actions, in procuring this, can be 

 followed, though in a shadowy way, through the glasses. They 

 search the rocks, stones, boulders, with which the bottom of the 

 lake is strewn, or rather covered, and whatever they get is 

 evidently close to their surface. As they often go through the 

 actions of pursuing something, the prey must be active — some 

 kind of rock-fish perhaps. At other times they stop, and appear 

 to be probing into chinks, crannies, &c, and, when they do this, 

 they certainly have the appearance of sitting or crouching (as, 

 before, thay had, sometimes, of walking) on the rocks, for their 

 bodies look as though flat upon them, and the way they some- 

 times move, then, for a moment or two, also gives this idea. 

 Certainty upon the point, however, is hard to obtain, for they do 

 not come in quite close to shore, but seem to prefer the water to 

 be of a moderate depth. In the descent to the bottom the feet 

 are alone used, as one can plainly see, the wings being pressed to 

 the sides, whilst, in rising, the propelling power seems to be a 

 matter of pure physics, for the bird presents every appearance 

 of merely allowing itself to rise. However, it keeps itself in 

 position, which must imply steering, for the ascent is always in 

 a steep slant, never perpendicularly. The motion is continuous, 

 without any jerking — a long glide up — and the idea gained, 

 though it is difficult to see this, is that the legs trail behind, and 

 play the part of a rudder, as with those birds — Penguins, 

 Puffins, Razorbills, &c. — who habitually use them so, whilst 

 swimming, with the wings, under water. These Mergansers 

 dived and came up at what seemed very regular intervals, and it 



