150 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



much later breeder than the last-named, and also a much scarcer 

 species. A pair bred on my ground on the edge of a small black 

 loch, about fifty yards long and twenty broad, at the outside, and 

 when visited, they rarely left the loch, merely diving from one end 

 to the other ; the nest being placed on an island. I believe those 

 inveterate robbers, the Lesser Black-backed Gulls, used to take the 

 eggs, as I got one fresh egg, on the 12th of July, 1877, and this 

 egg had been in the nest three or four days before I took it. In 

 1878, the eggs were taken by a friend of mine, who wanted them 

 for his collection. I have no doubt they laid again, but I did not 

 trouble them further by going to see. In 1879, the birds hatched 

 two young ones, which lived till they were about half-grown, when , 

 I am sorry to say, one disappeared, and I have often noticed, with 

 Divers, that one young one was a commoner number than two. 

 There were no fish of any description in the loch, so the old birds 

 must have had, at least, four or five miles to fly every time they 

 wanted food, for, although there was a burn full of small trout not 

 far off, I never saw them there, nor do I think they would have 

 gone there, as the pools were scarcely big enough for them to rise 

 easily from. 



126. Little Grebe. Podic&ps minor (Gmel.).— A summer 

 visitant. I once took a nest, with four eggs, on Loch Brora. 



127. Cormorant. Phalacrocorax carbo (Lin.). — A common 

 species, even during the summer. One or two were generally to be 

 seen sitting on a sand-bank, at the end of Loch Brora, drying their 

 wings. 



128. Shag. Phalacrocorax cristatus (Faber). — Common during 

 the winter and spring. 



129. Gannet. Sula bassana (Lin.). — Often seen fishing off the 

 coast, except during the breeding season. 



130. Grey Lag. Anser cinereus, Meyer. — Even yet fairly com- 

 mon in the localities it frequents. Though many birds may be 

 seen in a station, I believe that out of the number only a certain 

 relatively small proportion breeds, as flocks of Geese may be seen 

 flying about the lochs during the breeding season, and that these 

 are not all males was proved by a hen being shot out of a lot of 

 three or four that were flying overhead. Geese are early breeders, 

 generally hatching out about the middle of May, and about this 

 period I have often seen two old birds accompanied by, at the 

 most, six young ones. On one occasion I found a brood just hatched 



