CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 211 



I thus waited patiently concealed, never once 

 looking round to see whether the Divers were 

 approaching. Nearly half an hour must have 

 elapsed, when lo and behold ! two splendid birds 

 passed me about three yards off. I took a quick 

 shot. Missed ! ! ! Luckily I did, for the shot, going 

 like a bullet, would have blown the bird's head off 

 The result of my shot was this — One of the birds 

 dived like a flash, the other, becoming confused, 

 took to the wing. Now, I had one barrel left, and 

 that contained a wire cartridge, so letting the Diver 

 get well away from me I gave him the full force of the 

 charge in the back, which brought him down on the 

 water. I then popped in two more cartridges, and, 

 running down to the water's edge, gave him these as 

 well. He tried to dive, but never after that was 

 able to get away from us in the boat, and after 

 following him some little distance we eventually 

 fished him out in a landinof net. 



Thus ended a most exciting finish to a most 

 enjoyable day. I hope, reader, I have not quiet wearied 

 you out, but the account given is a pretty faithful 

 record of what took place at the different stages. 



This species is almost entirely confined to the 

 west coast of Scotland and its islands ; also occasional 

 adult birds have been met with as far south as the 

 English Channel, the estuary of the Dart in Devon ; 

 in Ireland examples have been taken at the mouth ot 

 the Moy river and near Belfast. 



It is very abundant in summer on the lakes of 

 Scandinavia, Finland, and Russia to the northward 



