THE GUILLEMOT 279 



green in ground colour, beautifully blotched and spotted with 

 rich dark brown and gray. The observer will never find the 

 Black Guillemot in very large colonies, a few pairs being 

 sprinkled up and down the coast — a point in its economy 

 much different from the Eazorbill or the Common Guillemot. 

 After its moult in autumn the Black Guillemot is greatly 

 changed in appearance ; the head and neck are only mottled 

 with black, the lower back and many of the smaller wing 

 coverts and upper tail coverts are barred with white, and the 

 whole of the underparts is white. 



Two other species of birds, most nearly related to the 

 Guillemots, here require some passing notice. The first of 

 these, the Eed-throated Diver {Colymhus scTitentrionalis), is a 

 bird of the Scottish lochs, and also breeds in the north-west of 

 Ireland. Its wild unearthly cry, like a human being in pain, 

 startles the naturalist, especially at dusk, as it sounds loudly 

 over the water in these wild mountain solitudes. Particularly 

 vociferous does this bird become at the approach of rain. 

 The Eed-throated Diver probably pairs for life, and is not 

 very gregarious or sociable even in winter — each pair keeping 

 to its own particular haunt. Upon the land it is clumsy 

 enough, its legs being placed too far back to enable it to walk 

 with ease ; but in the water it is almost as much at home as 

 a fish. When alarmed it gradually sinks itself lower and 

 lower into the water, until almost every part but the head 

 is concealed below the surface. This Diver breeds in May, 

 generally choosing a small island in its native loch, on which 

 it makes a slight and slovenly nest — a mere hollow, sparingly 

 lined with bits of dry herbage. Two eggs are laid, olive- 

 brown in ground colour, boldly spotted with very dark brown. 

 The sitting-bird is very wary, and its mate also is ever on the 

 alert to give alarm at the approach of danger, when the eggs 

 are left, the parent shuffling down a beaten track to the 

 water. Its food is almost exclusively composed of fish. 



