338 The Irish Naturalist. November, 



I could produce a witness to prove that this person is so 

 well acquainted with the Divers that in the district they 

 are known by his Christian name as " Dan's Birds." It 

 is within his memory that only one single young one has 

 been successfully reared in the last ten years, and that at 

 least two clutches have been laid and taken each year. 

 Is this not sufficient to rouse the anger of all true naturalists, 

 and to make them feel that such cold-blooded cruelty should 

 be put a stop to? 



Colymbus septentrionalis is included in the schedule of the 

 Wild Birds Protection Act of 1880, but unfortunately this does 

 not include the eggs and broods, and as the new Wild Birds 

 Act of 1894 leaves these to the tender mercies of the County 

 Councils, it is the duty of all bird lovers, w T hen a case such as 

 the present occurs, to see that the law is rigidly enforced, 

 and to get the local County Council to apply for an order 

 prohibiting the taking or destroying the eggs of birds such 

 as the case in question. I am happy to say that owing to 

 a superstition prevailing in the neighbourhood, no harm will 

 come to our Irish Divers themselves as long as they continue 

 to visit the present district, but something must be done to 

 prevent the persistent taking of their eggs every season, and I 

 think all ornithologists will agree with me that steps should 

 be taken before the next nesting season comes round to 

 secure this end. 



In the Irish Naturalist, vol. xii., page 199, attention was 

 called to this subject, and we were assured that the land- 

 lord of the property on which the lough is situated had 

 11 issued orders to his keepers for the strictest preservation 

 of the birds and their eggs for this and future seasons" — 

 with the result as I have stated ; the very persons, I am in- 

 formed, who should have carried out their master's wishes 

 being the chief defaulters. The loughs and fishery which 

 these birds haunt have, owing to the death of the aforesaid 

 landlord, changed hands, and I believe the present owner has 

 the protection of the Divers at heart, having, I am told, offered 

 the individual who took the eggs this year the amount he 

 receives for them, to leave them to be incubated next year. 

 The offer was refused, the man saying if he did not take them 

 some one else would, and as he was the occupier of the land 



