yoo RED-THROATED DIVER. 



Northward the Red-throated Diver has been observed up to lat. 

 82°, while it breeds plentifully in Spitsbergen, and, in a word, 

 throughout the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe, Asia and 

 America. In Europe its migrations extend to the Mediterranean, 

 Black and Caspian Seas, though the bird is less frequently noticed 

 on inland waters than its congeners ; and Mr. (}atke has recorded, 

 under date of December 22nd 1S79, a wonderful passage — -"almost 

 by the million "■ — off Heligoland. Von Heuglin says that he has 

 seen immature examples on the lagoons of Lower Egypt in winter ; 

 at which season the range of this species reaches Japan, China 

 and Formosa in Asia, and ^laryland in America. 



^^'hen breeding, this bird frequents more retired spots than the 

 Black-throated Diver, and prefers the margins of small tarns or 

 even pools — often at a considerable elevation — to islands in a 

 large loch. Sometimes there is a slight nest-border of heather or 

 bents, but usually the eggs, 2 in number, are laid on the bare soil 

 or trodden-down turf, so close to the water's edge that they are often 

 moist underneath ; their colour varies from olive to pale brown, 

 spotted with umber ; and their average measurements are 275 by 

 I "8 in. : in Scotland they may be found fresh from the middle 

 of May to a month later. More than one pair of birds seldom 

 inhabit the same piece of water ; but on the Porsanger Fjord, in 

 West Finmark, Prof. Collett discovered fifteen nests in half an 

 hour, and also found that the male shares the duties of incubation. 

 When disturbed from her eggs, the female glides into the water, 

 and at first swims very low ; then, bending her head and neck 

 forward, disappears with a gentle plunge which hardly leaves a 

 ripple : but I have noticed that if my stay near her nest was pro- 

 longed, she would swim high, snapping her mandibles and turning 

 her head with a jerky action, and occasionally stopping to drink. 

 The note is a harsh kark, kark, kakera, and is supposed to foretell 

 wet or stormy weather ; for which reason the bird is widely known 

 as the ' Rain-goose.' The food consists chiefly of fish. 



The adult is figured in the foreground ; the sexes being alike in 

 plumage, though the female is somewhat the smaller : average 

 length 23 in., wing 11 in. In autumn the red throat is lost for a 

 short time. The young bird (shown in the background) has the 

 feathers of the upper parts edged with white. Albinos are occa- 

 sionally met with. 



