In response to Don Cecile's suggestion for investigating the capacity of
seabirds for hearing under water, Michael Price suggested

>Why not just hang a hydromike from a buoy in an area where there's lots of
>wintering grebes and loons and known feeding areas and run the tape for a
>few nights? That would be sure to pick up sounds of bill-clicks,
>vocalisations, even their hidden sonic activities such as surreptitious
>barber-shop quartets ;-) Beats sticking stuff in their ear.

Hmmm - not a bad idea. But of course you'd have to be able to distinguish
the birds' sounds from the background noise of shrimps, ?porpoises and the
like. And have you ever heard a clam sing?

-- Janet Hardin
Port Townsend, WA
wings at olympus.net