18 OUR RARER BRITISH BREEDING BIRDS. 



spots. Both nest and eggs closely resemble those 

 of the Greenfinch, but the facts that the bird 

 breeds much earlier and is a close sitter, affording 

 ample opportunities for identification, serve to 

 prevent any mistake. 



DIVER, BLACK-THROATED. 



WHILST in North Uist last spring, I saw quite half 

 a dozen pairs of the Ked-Throated Divers, but 

 only came across one of the Black-Throated 

 species, and have every reason to believe that 

 there were not more than two of the latter in the 

 whole island. 



In order to visit the pair which I studied, I 

 was obliged to enlist the friendly assistance of 

 a gamekeeper, a gilly, and the factor's clerk. 

 Together we dragged an abnormally heavy old 

 fishing-boat from its home on a sea-loch, over a 

 rough, hilly stretch of moorland to a freshwater 

 one, boasting an islet for every day in the year, 

 and a goodly stock of Wild Geese, Sea Gulls, and 

 other aquatic fowl. Our task was an exceedingly 

 arduous one, and on the return journey was 

 rendered positively excruciating by the voracity of 

 myriads of midges. 



We had not been in the neighbourhood of that 

 part of the loch tenanted by the Black-Throated 

 Divers long, before one of them came flying over 

 us and pitched on the other side of a promontory. 

 Bowing up to this we landed, and obtained a 

 good view of the bird, which the keeper adjudged 

 from its large size to be a male, some eighty yards 

 away. Upon catching sight of us he promptly 



