450 TRAVELS OF A NATURALIST 



inside yesterday I had to-day also to wet my short ones, 

 and the cold of that water was intense. 



We found the nest of the Black-throated Diver close to 

 the edge of the pool frequented by the Eed-necked (and 

 Grey) Phalaropes, and actually built in the water, of 

 water-plants, a bulky structure compared with our 

 sparingly-lined hollows in Scotland. The egg is unusually 

 small, but we identified the bird carefully as it flew 

 repeatedly close overhead. 



We examined also an old nest on the top of a raised 

 mass of sphagnum in the marsh, and picked up a few 

 pure white feathers around it. We think it belonged 

 probably to a Glaucous or other Gull, and is of the deep 

 bowl shape common to the nests of the larger gulls. 

 Beside it also was a space much tramped down, as if 

 by some heavy bird which liked to stand beside its nest, 

 as Gulls often do. 



I watched a pair of Grey Plovers for a short time in 

 vain, as the female kept alighting within fifteen yards of 

 me wherever I lay down, though I tried places as much 

 as fifty yards apart. 



As the season advances the plumage of the female 

 appears to change more rapidly than that of the male, 

 which latter seems to retain the full plumage longer. At 

 one hundred and fifty yards distance to-day the breast of 

 the female appeared almost white, and at fifteen yards 

 only a narrow strip of black was discernible, but at one 

 hundred and fifty yards the breast of the male appeared 

 as black as ever. 



On comparing our old and young Phalaropes we found 

 the following differences between the two ages. Of the 

 younger bird we have two of each sex, but we await dis- 

 section before noting the difference between males and 

 females, and to see whether or not the male is less 

 brightly-coloured than the female. 



