CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 9I 



charge would go on the top of him he would be 

 under before it reached him. Havincr thus fired 

 something like five futile shots, I told the ghillie to 

 watch till the bird's eye was, to some extent, 

 averted, and then give me the cue to pull the 

 trigger. This he did, the result being satisfactory. 

 This Diver is the smallest of the British species, 

 and breeds principally in the western islands of 

 Scotland, although a good many birds, mostly 

 immature, or in their winter plumage, which means 

 an entire absence of the red throat and the striking 

 markings on the head, are found on most of our 

 coasts in the autumn and winter. The nest is 

 generally situated on the edge of a tarn, i.e., small 

 lake or pool ; there is little or nothing of a structure 

 about it, indeed, the two eggs, which are olive 

 spotted with umber, are often laid upon the bare 

 ground. 



Howard Saunders says: "When disturbed from 

 her eggs, the female glides into the water and at 

 first swims very low, then, bending her head and 

 neck forward, disappears with a gentle plunge, 

 which hardly leaves a ripple ; but I have noticed 

 that if my stay near her nest was prolonged she 

 would swim high, snapping her mandibles and 

 turning her head with a jerky action, and 

 occasionally stopping to drink." This species has a 

 very mournful sort of note, rather harsh in tone; and 

 when frequent utterance is given to it, it is supposed 

 to foretell rain or stormy weather, for this reason the 

 bird is often called the Rain Goose. 



G2 



