SOME BIRD NOTES FROM THE OUTER HEBRIDES 29 



became tame, and succeeded in rearing him. I watched one 

 pounce on a young Pewit who on his first effort at flying tried 

 to cross a loch. After having held the unfortunate victim 

 under water till life was extinct, he tried to swallow it, but 

 being unsuccessful, flew off, leaving his booty in the water to 

 be torn to pieces by the attendant host of Common Gulls. 

 We attempted to photograph this extremely wary bird on its 

 nest, and as might be expected our efforts did not meet 

 with much success. The camera, protected by a couple of 

 mackintosh cloths and hidden as carefully as we could 

 possibly devise, was left overnight on a small rocky islet in the 

 midst of the loch. The shore was some 600 yards distant, 

 and three fishing-reels were used to bridge over the gap. That 

 night was one of the worst we experienced ; it rained and 

 stormed, so that I feared that in spite of the mackintoshes the 

 camera would be ruined. The next morning revealed both 

 old birds with their " weather-eye " open perched on a rock 

 close to the nest, while a third member sailed aloft. The 

 eggs had disappeared — not a trace was to be found. Little 

 doubt was left in our mind as to the thief. Though 

 birds are not generally endowed with the sense of smell, yet it 

 is curious to note that an inveterate egg-stealer like this species 

 never takes a bad egg, though no marked objection to 

 incubated ones is shown 

 Black-throated Diver, Colymlms arcticus^ Linn. — On 29th May 

 a nest with its usual complement of eggs was found. It was 

 placed within two feet of the water's edge. Owing to the 

 terrible weather which ensued, no attempt to photograph the 

 owner was possible. On 5th June the site was revisited, and 

 the eggs were found to have hatched off. No signs were seen 

 either of the old or the young birds, and daily after that 

 regularly, towards 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the old ones 

 were seen wending their way from their fishing out at sea 

 back to the loch. What becomes of the young in the mean- 

 time I am at a loss to know. 



Red-throated Diver, Colymbus sepiejitrionalis^ Linn. — A nest 

 was found in exactly the same position as last year, that is on a 

 small island in full view of the public road. It contained but 

 one egg, the other having been robbed by Gulls. Last year 

 I was successful in obtaining several studies of the old bird 

 as she left the water and settled on the eggs, eventually 

 becoming so tame that I was able to make exposures when 

 standing in full view only some thirty yards distant. But our 

 attempts this time were not crowned with success owing to 

 many unforeseen circumstances. First of all the bird was 

 unaccountably alarmed by the camera, which on the last 



