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PHOTOGRAPHING THE BLACK-THROATED 



DIVER AND GREY LAG-GOOSE. 



BY 



OLIVER G. PIKE, f.r.p.s., f.z.s. 



(Plate 3) 



About the middle of last May, I journeyed to the Outer 

 Hebrides for the purpose of photographing those two 

 rare nesting birds, the Black-throated Diver (Colymhus 

 arcticus) and the Grey Lag-Goose (Anser cinereus). 

 Although I knew the best spot to go to for my purpose, 

 I was on the island for a whole week before I was able 

 to expose a plate. The few pairs of Divers had only 

 just commenced to lay, and in consequence were rather 

 wild, and would not remain on their eggs for long, and 

 in three of the nests of the Grey Lag-Goose that I found 

 the eggs had hatched, another had been robbed by a 

 Crow, and the fifth was not in an easy place for photo- 

 graphy. However, as it seemed to be the only one left, 

 I set to work to photograph the bird, but knew that 

 I should have a difficult task. There was only one 

 place where I could make a hiding-place, and for the 

 best part of the day the sun would be shining right into 

 my lens. I dug a hole in the peat, about four feet deep, 

 placed my bird- watching tent over this, and covered 

 the whole with heather, and going inside waited for two 

 hours. As there was no sign of the bird returziing, I 

 went away, and while the Goose was getting used to the 

 pile of heather by her nest, I went to another island on 

 the large loch, and built a hiding-place from which I 

 hoped to photograph the Diver. The building of this 

 was rather a long task, for we had to construct the shelter 

 of rocks and stones, and it had to be built out in the 

 water, as that was the only place where I could obtain 

 a good view of the bird. At length my two hiding- 

 places were completed, and it resolved itself into a game 

 of patience between the birds and myself. I make it 

 a rule never to keep a bird off its eggs for more than two 



