he side, and as we
reached to take it up, the bird instantly dived, and we never saw
it rise again to the surface; possibly it got entangled in the
weeds and was drowned." I quote this remark because the same thing
has happened to myself. I winged a Sandpiper, and on going to take
it up, it fluttered into the water and dived, but never rose again
to the surface that I could perceive, although I watched long and
attentively for it. In this instance the bird could not have been
entangled by the weeds, inasmuch as the bottom of the river was
covered with gravel and not a weed was growing there. Whether the
Sandpiper laid hold of the gravel at the bottom with its feet, or
how it managed, I cannot tell, nor have I ever been able to
account for it. (June 30th, 1832.)

* * * * *

ON BIRDS DRESSING THEIR FEATHERS WITH OIL FROM A GLAND.

Mr. Waterton doubts ("Mag. of Nat. History," vol. v. p. 413) if
the small nipple on the rump of birds is an oil-gland, or that
birds ever oil their feathers with matter obtained from it; and he
asks if any naturalist will say that he has ever witnessed this
process, and if so how it is that the bird contrives to take this
oil in its bill and how it manages to oil its head and neck? I
will therefore state what I think I have witnessed, and trust to
Mr. Waterton's forbearance if I am in error; yet I cannot help
suspecting that Mr. Waterton's queries are (like those of Charles
the Second to the Royal Society) more for the purpose of laughing
at our ignorance than from any wish he has to obtain information,
for I can scarcely suppose that so acute an observer can have
failed to perceive everything perceptible on the point at issue.

I have just watched a Muscovy Duck go through the operation of
preening and dressing its feathers, and it certainly appears
obvious enough to me that this bird uses the gland on the rump for
the purpose for which birds are generally supposed to use it. The
bird erected the feathers on the rump so as to exhibit the gland
very distinctly, and then, after pressing it with the bill, rubbed
the under mandible and chin down to the throat upon it, and then,
after drawing some of the feathers through the bill, rubbed the
lower mandible and chin upon the back and scapulars, apparently to
apply the oil which adhered to them, and then, turning its head
back, it rubbed the crown and sides of the head and neck upon
those parts which it had previously rubbed with the chin and un