20 OUR RARER BRITISH BREEDING BIRDS. 



dived, and reappeared a considerable distance 

 further off. When first seen in the water he was 

 swimming deeply, but after diving and coming 

 to the surface again no part of his body was visible, 

 and the protruding head and neck were strangely 

 suggestive of a snake peeping from the loch. 



A little later we obtained a splendid view of 

 the female, as she alighted with a gliding splash 

 in the water not more than forty yards from our 

 boat, lying partly hidden by a bank. 



We found the nest on the wee islet shown in 

 our second illustration. It consisted of a mere 

 hollow in a few square feet of earth lying on the 

 gently- sloping rock. The cavity had a few bits of 

 dead grass that might reasonably have been blown 

 in by accident lying at the bottom of it. 



The Black-Throated Diver is easily distinguished 

 from its near relative, the Ked-Throarfced Diver, when 

 seen through a good pair of field-glasses in a fairly 

 bright light, and its pair of eggs, huffish to dark 

 olive-brown spotted with umber to blackish-brown, 

 are larger and not so profusely spotted. 



EAGLE, WHITE-TAILED. 



THIS species has been decreasing gradually as a 

 breeder within our shores for the last two centuries, 

 and it is really alarming to think of the number 

 of favourite old eyries that have become tenantless 

 in the north during the memory of man. I know 

 one or two places where the White-Tailed Eagle 

 still maintains a lingering foothold, mainly on 

 account of the inaccessible character of the ledges 

 whereon it builds; but for obvious reasons, wild 



