CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 2O9 



It must have been something like a week after 

 this first attempt in which the fates had been against 

 me, that I made the second attempt. On this 

 occasion the keeper, ghilhe, and I surveyed the 

 position with a powerful telescope at about three- 

 quarters of a mile off ; our real reason being to 

 ascertain whether she had deserted the island. No, 

 she had not, she was still there ! so the same tactics 

 were pursued in regard to getting me into the 

 position on the island I was on before. 



There was one rather uncomfortable feature about 

 my position, however, on this occasion, viz., that 

 owincr to a lot of rain that had fallen duringf the 

 week the loch had risen, and that when lying prone, 

 my feet were in several inches of water. Although 

 I had despatched the young Gulls, there was no 

 lack of birds passing and re-passing ; on one occa- 

 sion a fight took place over my head between a 

 Skua and another bird. All this was very disquiet- 

 ing to the nerves of a very shy bird, whose suspicions 

 had been so much aroused by my first visit. At 

 length, however, one of the prettiest incidents 

 occurred, showing an interesting characteristic in 

 this species. After an hour or two, this female 

 Diver being very much perplexed in her own mind 

 as to the general situation, made a very plaintive 

 call-cry which was answered in the far distance, I 

 should say about a mile off, by another similar note ; 

 she then took a couple of long dives in the direction 

 of this call, and both birds appeared together far 

 out in the loch. She then brought him alone to 



