Cambridge, Mass.
1902.
Nov. 30
(No. 2)
the twenty minutes or more that I spent
watching it, it remained nearly in the same spot
busily engaged, most of the time, in preening the 
plumage of its under parts. This was accomplished
in a peculiar and most interesting manner.
  Rolling over on one side until the snow white surface
of the breast and abdomen flashed in the sunlight and
maintaining this position by a constant movement
of the feet (and perhaps also of the submerged wing)
so vigorous that the surface of the water was violently
agitated and at times thrown up in jets of spray the
bird would spend several successive minutes dressing the
feathers of its sides & flanks by passing them through
its half-opened bill. To get at those on the middle
of its breast and abdomen it more than once turned
completely over and for the space of a minute or two
floated squarely on its back with its head and bill
thrown well forward and busily engaged & its widely
spread, webbed feet pawing the empty air. When it
became tired it would resume an upright position
and drift or paddle slowly about sometimes with
its head carried low as with a swimming Duck but
usually with the short, thick neck stretched up nearly
or quite to its full length. Through my powerful field
telescope I could distinctly see that the entire upper surface
of the head neck and body was deep black and I
also I also made out clearly the shape and proportions
of the bill and the characteristic lines of demarkation
between the black and white on the cheeks and
throat which distinguish the young of Brunnich's from
those of the Common Murre. Indeed the identification
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