FLYING UNDER WATER

Taranaki Daily News, 29 January 1931, Page 5

FLYING UNDER WATER

A REMARKABLE BIRD. The bird called in England the “water-ouzel” both walks and flics, or perhaps “swims” with its wings, under water. How it does this is explained in Current Science by a writer, who tells how the bird manages to keep down, though it is much lighter than water, how it stays dry, and keeps its eyes open. “Many birds are swimmers, and some are divers. There is at least one that can actually walk around on the bottom of a pool of water, and swim for many, yards under the surface. This is the water-ouzel —one of the most unique of all the feathered creatures in name, home and habits. “The strict scientific name for the ouzel is ‘cinclus,’ which is the Greek for ‘wagtail.’ “Water-ouzels live in both the old world and the new. It is not a migrating bird, and only ice so thick as to make diving impossible will cause a journey southward. “Those who have watched the bird are amazed at two things—the length of time it will stay under the surface of a pool, walking around; and the peculiar' manner in which it crosses deeper portions of the pool, propelling itself by means of wing movements that all observers describe as ‘flying under water.’ Dr. John Davy, an Englishman, determined that it is hardly three-fourths as heavy as water. It requires real force to keep such a corklike body down, and the flapping of the wings during the under-water journey are for the same purpose as the strokes of a human diver.’’ How can the warm, active bird endure the icy chill of mountain waters? Nature has provided it, as with other birds that are much in the water, with an extra suit of thick down underneath the true feathers. Many furry creatures have a similar suit of fine hair underneath their coarser fur. This down is kept oily by means of a gland under the bird’s tail. When beneath the water no dampness can penetrate to the skin; as seen from above, the bii'jfl seems to be wrapped in a silvery gauze, which is a thin film of air surrounding the body. The writer goes on:— “Practically every creature that spends time in both air and water has three eyelids. Two of them are the standard upper and lower lids: the third is a translucent, partially cloudy, membrane that may slide over the front of the eye for its protection, yet allow a certain amount of light to penetrate.”