BLACKTHROATED-DIVER 451 



composed chiefly of males whose mates were incubating, for at the 

 next visit only a single pair would be seen on the loch. Probably these 

 scenes are a repetition on a limited scale of what takes place in the 

 spring when pairing takes place. St. John says that in May he has 

 seen great numbers of these birds in the Bay of Tongue. The rocks 

 and hillsides resounded with their singular and wild cry as they seemed 

 to be holding a noisy consultation as to their future movements, which 

 at a distance exactly resembled the noise made by a crowd of people 

 shouting and laughing. As evening advanced, the Divers gradually 

 dispersed, leaving in pairs by a direct and rapid flight, after a few 

 circles round the bay, at a great height, towards the mountains. 

 Each pair was evidently on its way to some well-known breeding-place, 

 and as it left the bay, the remaining birds seemed with one accord 

 to salute their departing friends with a shout of mingled laughter, 

 howling, and every earthly and unearthly cry, while those on the wing 

 frequently uttered a short, shrill, bark-like note. 1 Collett also notes 

 that at the seasons of passage they often collect in flocks in Norway, 

 and adds that he has seen as many as eighty on the wing passing over 

 the Kristiana fjord. The notes are difficult to reproduce in words, as 

 may be gathered from the foregoing accounts by Booth and St. John, 

 but it is evident that in addition to the howling or wailing note, which 

 Seebohm compares to that of a child in great pain, there is also a 

 hoarse alarm-note, which Collett likens to a raven's croak, and writes as 

 "kraiw" This is evidently the same note which Meyer describes as a 

 long-drawn "kaih" and according to Naumann is sometimes dissyllabic, 

 " krau," sometimes trisyllabic, " kraou" and at times more like " krieiik." 

 Besides these there is also a yelping or yapping note, probably 

 corresponding to KolthofFs sharp "%, hy, hy" which Blathwayt 

 compares to the quacking of a duck, and is somewhat drawn out when 

 descending to the water, so that it sounds like " quarra-qucfrk." The 

 breeding-habits have already been treated of, so that it is unnecessary 

 to recapitulate here what is to be found in the " Classified Notes." 



1 Natural History and Sport in Moray, 1863, p. 290. 



