N'ESTIN'fi-sKRIES f)F imiTIsH RIRPS. IT)!) 



No. 88. NIGHTJAR or GOATSUCKER. 



(C'apriimilgus europfeus.) 



Tliis regular sniiimcr migrant is one of tiie latest to visit the British 

 Islands, seldom arriving before the middle of ^lay, and departing in 

 Scpteml)er, though individuals sometimes linger in the south of England 

 till November. Its i:'avourite haunts are woodland glades, eommons and 

 heaths, where heather, ferns aiul gorse flourish ; and its food consists of 

 insects, most of which are captured on the wing, at twilight or during 

 the night. No Jicst is made and, towards tiie cud of May, two 

 beantifuily marbled oval eggs are deposited on the ground. Incubation 

 lasts for eighteen days, and tlic young when hatched are covered with 

 tliick grcvisli down. 



N(n-folk, May. 



Prfsi iilcd //I/ Lord II (ihii>i//i(ii/i. 



No. 89. BLACK-THROATED DIVER. 



(Colymbus arcticiis.) 



Tolerably common during the breeding-season about the larger lochs 

 of the north and west of Scotland, and occasionally found in the winter 

 off the coasts of England and Ireland. In winter the plumage is 

 entirely different from that of spring, for after tiie rutumn moult tiie 

 upper parts become ashy brown and the under parts hliite. The flight 

 is very strong and rapid, and the movements both on and below the 

 surface of the water are active and varied, though slow and awkward on 

 land. The food consists principally of fish, which are captured by diving 

 and subsequently brought to the surface and swallowed. Tlie nest, a 

 hollow in the ground with little or no lining, is generally situated close 

 to the water's edge, either on a grass-grown island or (as in the present 

 instance) on the mainland. Two large olive-brown eggs, spotted with 

 black, are laid in May. 



Sutherlandshire, June. 



Prfsentc'fl by Colonel L. H. Iihij cV ('apta'n) >'. G. Heiil. 



No. 90, RED-THROATED DIVER. 



(Colymbus septentiionalis.) 



Though adults with the white throat characteristic of winter plumage 

 are commonly met with on all our coasts from autumn to spring, the 

 " Rain-Goose/' as it is often called, is only known to breed, as regards tne 



