RED-THROATED DIVER. IQI 



pnrticiilar, for it seldom, if ever, procures its food in the small 

 lochs where it breeds. 



"As a rule these pools are devoid of trout, and consequently, 

 though one of the birds may frequently be seen swimming 

 about while the other is engaged in hatching the eggs, all the 

 fish are procured in the large lochs, which are sometimes a 

 considerable distance away. Like the rest of its kind, the 

 Red-throated Diver cannot rise very quickly from the water, 

 but flaps along the surface for some distance before it gains 

 sufficient impetus to be able to fly. When once on the wing 

 and well under weigh, it travels at a great pace, the flight being 

 very much like that of a duck. If disturbed from their nest the 

 birds circle for some time high over the loch, the male uttering 

 his hoarse cry, kork, kork, kork, kork, as he passes overhead, the 

 sound reminding one somewhat of that of an old cock Grouse. 

 "It is marvellous how easily Divers may be overlooked on 

 the water, especially when the surface is rough. I have often 

 glassed a lock carefully from a distance of about a quarter of a 

 mile, and been able to make out nothing, but on a nearer 

 approach have found it to be tenanted by a pair of Divers. 

 The keen vision of these birds evidently enables them to sight 

 any suspicious object at a considerable distance, and we proved 

 this to our satisfaction in the summer of '96. A hen sitting 

 on her nest at a distance of several hundred yards, instantly 

 detected an incautious movement of the top of my head, 

 which was the only part of my body visible. 



"It may be worth while to add that a thoroughly trust- 

 worthy keeper in Sutherland assures me that a pair of Red- 

 throated Divers, which we had watched together in the early 

 summer of 1896, eventually bred among the heather at a con- 

 venient distance from the neajxst pool. The shells of the two 

 eggs were not found by him until the young birds had hatched 

 off and were seen swimming, with the parents, in the loch hard 

 by. There is every reason to believe this keeper's story, for he 

 has known these Divers and their ways all his life, and had 

 been tr>ing hard to find the nest of this particular pair. If 

 these birds really bred on land, and I have no reason to doubt 

 the fact, the question is. How did they manage to alight on 

 the ground, and, more wonderful still, when once there, how- 

 did they manage to get on the wing ? " 



