NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. - 661 
here.” They swim about strongly, almost as if drawn by some powerful 
electrical attraction, and on com ing to the surface after a dive, the head 
and neck are o 
are taken. I have seen the Sheldrake standing on a ledge; its figure was 
awkward, but it did not stand as erect as some other birds whose legs 
are placed far behind. A little flock is sometimes seen in spring resting 
in a cove or inlet of the sea; some quite at their ease, other: s swimming 
about in that strong way we have alluded to, with necks outstretched. 
The Sheldrakes seen on the breaking up of the rivers are as nothing 
compared to the quantity that follow along the shore a little later, when 
they come in flocks, from twelve to twenty, and even seventy-tive; some- 
times flying steadily, two or three deep, above the reach of shot, passing 
n 
such turn before lost to vision, and come back again, as ‘if conscious they 
were wrong. They frequently fly close to the water, as if to vary their 
journey, their wings evidently being strong enough to allow considerable 
freedom of will; but they rise from the surface of the water to a gunshot 
distance when they go over the headlands. If they see a person in the 
course of their flight, they swerve widely, but often a lone one will, with- 
out perturbation, go straight over the fowler. I noticed that most of the 
ate sp s 
Pei ducks” and “spring sheldrake” are common terms at the shore, 
—everybody knows them. The white on the wings of these birds is no- 
itia when they are not high, and the dark line on the neck of the male 
can easily be seen àt a gunshot distance, when he is below the eye. They 
metimes scale to the water from a height, holding the wings stif and a 
ite inclined down. They are never as tranquil on the water as the coot, 
and I could never discover much in their gizzards early in the season, even 
of those which had been actively engaged. They sometimes swim in close 
to the shore, immerse their heads and eels and persistently punch and 
glean among the pebbles and weeds. The Sheldrake’s tail seems to be more 
a part of the body than do the tails of other eiaa birds, the feathers of the 
back appearing to descend to the very tip t; perhaps it can be used 
somewhat as a rudder when under water. The amka is known as a hand- 
some bird, his pure white neck remaining in our memory after being seen 
once. Its ruddy breast is flecked with artistic niceness; and its sides and 
