I08 LAKES AND RIVERS. 



The young are at first of a brown-black on the 

 upper parts, and whitish on the lower. At the first 

 moult the space between the eye and beak, the sides 

 of the neck, are white, and the top of the head is 

 ash-gray, sprinkled with small spots of white, the 

 coverts of the wings edged with white, the beak ashy- 

 white, the iris brown, the feet brown, underneath 

 ashy-white. At the end of the first year the young 

 begin to have the same colours as the old birds, but 

 sometimes the neck is white, with a few chestnut- 

 coloured feathers mixed ; the white spots become less 

 distinct on the upper parts, and are sometimes yel- 

 lowish. After the second moult the front of the 

 neck is reddish, with a few white feathers ; the white 

 gradually disappears as the bird gets older. 



This species inhabits the English, French, and 

 Dutch coasts in winter, and the young are common 

 in the inland seas of Holland, in Germany, and even 

 Switzerland and Italy. They lay two eggs, the same 

 shape at both ends, of an olive-brown, with a few 

 black spots. All the divers form their nests of sea- 

 weed, or decaying marsh plants, and cover their eggs 

 when they leave them. The red-throated diver 

 breeds on many parts of the mainland of Scotland, 

 also in the Orkney and Shetland Isles. 



The Ducks and Geese (Anatidtz) are par excellence 

 birds of fresh water. Of the Gray-leg Goose (Anser 

 rineraceus) Mr. Wolley, as quoted by Mr. Hewitson, 

 says : " I believe it to be the only species of goose 

 which has been in the habit of spending the breed- 

 ing season in Great Britain, formerly in great num- 

 bers in the southern part of the island. During several 



