BIRDS OF THE SEA 461 



graceful yet powerful forms being drawn with the 

 view of swift progression beneath the water. The 

 legs set far back, are broad, yet perfectly flat, and 

 when the webbed foot is drawn up preparatory to 

 the stroke, the narrow edge alone of leg and foot 

 is opposed to the element. As the foot descends 

 these broad surfaces are brought to bear upon the 

 water, and the bird shoots forward like an arrow 

 driven from a bow. 



The Great Northern Diver, with the jet-black 

 plumage of his back and wings barred with regular 

 lines of pure white, is a conspicuously handsome 

 bird, the Black-throated being only slightly less 

 striking. Each of the three species is a true bird 

 of the sea, and both the Great Northern and the 

 Red-throated are frequently to be seen about the 

 English coasts in the winter. The Black-throated 

 is much rarer, but even he occurs at times in these 

 southern latitudes, his dark head raised from the 

 water ready to disappear at the first sign of danger. 

 The Great Northern Diver is not known to nest 

 in Great Britain, although birds in full breeding 

 arrav are sometimes to be met with in the Shet- 

 lands in the summer, but on certain of the grassy 

 islands of the more remote lochs, the Black-throat 

 is still to be found, and throughout the whole of 

 the north of Scotland as well as in the Shetlands, 

 the Red-throat is a regular nesting species. 



A Highland Loch 



For many miles the great loch winds through 

 the wildest and most mountainous scenery; yet 



