td 
DIVERS, GREBES, AND CORMORANTS. 163 
degrees of frost, an easterly wind, and a snowstorm 
in the evening. The Divers were by no means 
alone in their distress, for hundreds of thousands 
of Ducks, Geese, and Swans, Curlews, Dunlins, 
and Oyster-catchers, passed from east to west. 
From early morning until noon, on both days in 
succession, the Divers were seen in one incessant 
stream, travelling north-east, in numbers estimated 
almost by the million! Well may Géatke have 
wondered whence such vast multitudes came, and 
whither they were going, and what was the initial 
cause of such gregarious instincts, never manifested 
in this Diver under any ordinary circumstances. 
The Red-throated Diver is a master at the art 
of diving, and is often seen slowly to sink its body 
under water when alarmed. It also flies with great 
strength and speed, and is said to show more 
preference for flying than either of its congeners. 
The food of this Diver is chiefly composed of fish. 
Its ordinary note is a harsh a& or hark; but at the 
nesting places the same wild unearthly cries are 
uttered that are equally characteristic of the other 
species. These cries are said to foretell rain or 
rough weather, and have caused the bird to be 
called ‘Rain Goose” in many Highland districts. 
The Red-throated Diver, however agile and grace- 
ful it may be in the water or even in the air, is a 
clumsy object on the land, incapable of walking 
upright, owing to the backward position of its legs, 
and compelled to shuffle along with its breast 
