8 
Clangula clangula amorioana . 
Lake Umbagog, Maine. 
1897. the piece as it descended. This is the nearest approach to 
June 3. diving which it has thus far made. It drinks often and copi¬ 
ously. After a bath it preens and dries its downy plumage. 
with great patience and care using its bill like an old bird. 
June 9. Our little Whistler was alive this morning but he seemed 
feeble and depressed and as he would eat practically nothing 
ur 
it was evident that we could not hope to rear ham. According- 
V < n «\ 
ly we took Mm into the flooded forest and putting on a piece 
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of floating drift wood near the foot of the tree in which he 
a: 
had been hatched backed the boat off a few yards and left Mm 
hr 
at freedom. He stood erect and motionless for a minute or 
two looking about Mm; then entering the water 4a© began swim¬ 
ming, at first slowly and in evident bewilderment. But very 
mL- 
soon he gained confidence and struck out more boldly until at 
the end of a few minutes he was darting hither and thither 
skimming the surface as lightly as a fluff of thistle down 
and in courses as erratic as those of the lucky bugs whose gam- 
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bols he disturbed. Now he sipped the water eagerly, next he 
picked at a floating leaf or darted after some small aquatic 
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insect. Every now and then he would raise the forward part 
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of Ms body and flap Ms tiny wings exactly in the manner of 
an old Duck. The floating sticks and rafts of drift that 
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covered a large part of the surface did not embarass his 
HI 
