The Land of the Hills and the Glens 



trouble v/ith its stolen crab, and had by no means managed 

 to dispose of it. 



A shag was diving near, and it was interesting to compare 

 its methods with those of the red-throated diver. When 

 diving, the shag, and the cormorant also,, throws itself 

 out of the water with neck outstretched. It is this that 

 causes the splash. The diver, on the other hand, stretches 

 out his neck as he dives, but does not raise" himself in the 

 water. The result is that the dive is noiseless and scarcely 

 a ripple is made to disturb the surface. When swimming 

 the diver is normally higher in the water than either the 

 shag or cormorant, and the neck is not so outstretched, so 

 that in appearance it rather resembles a large duck. The 

 red-throated species is the smallest as well as the most numer- 

 ous of British divers, and is plentiful during winter on most 

 parts of the coast. 



2. JANUARY 



THE month of January was uniformly cold, with an almost 

 entire absence Of south-westerly gales of wind. Breezes 

 from some easterly point were prevalent, and on the i2th and 

 1 3th there was a whole gale from the north north-east, with a 

 high sea. Much frost was experienced towards the end of 

 the month, and snow lay deep on the higher grounds. 

 Many birds frequented the sheltered bays and sandy beaches 

 of the shore line. 



Long-tailed duck were numerous. Even on the first of 

 the month some of them were going in pairs,, but it is a 

 common occurrence for birds of all species to be led into 

 mating prematurely following upon a spell of mild weather 

 in mid-winter, such as was experienced during December. 



On a still day early in the month I had a good view of several 



grey plover feeding quite near me. Their breasts and under 



parts were pure white, so that when facing me they seemed 



almost as white as seagulls. As is the case with several 



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