Thelmmer."] OF ORKNEY. Ill 



short, and, like the back, party-coloured, tipped with a dirty 

 white. Like the former, the time, place, and manner of 

 building of this bird is to me unknown. The same story * is 

 told of its hatching under water, but this, in all probability, is 

 a refuge for ignorance, as most marvellous stories are. It 



o o 



utters a howling cry much like that of dogs ; is very hard to 

 shoot, as it dives immediately on the flash from the gun-pan. 

 Like most sea-birds, this is very fat, having near an inch 

 deep of fat on the skin, which both makes it difficult to be 

 gotten off, and more so to dry. 



Species 3. The Gray Speckled Diver. 



Greatest Speckled Diver, or Loon, Wil. Orn. 341. RaiiSyn. Av. 125. Brit. 



Zool. 414. Ore. Loon. 



THIS is the least of the greater divers which frequent 

 these shores ; it only appears here in the winter season, and 

 goes off in spring, but where it retires to I cannot say; pro- 

 bably to the northern countries, where it will be less disturb- 

 ed in breeding-time than here. 



It is to be found constantly in the winter season in the bays 

 and sounds, but in no place more frequently than the harbour 

 of Stromness, where it constantly attends the shoals of coal- 



* Anser qui nidulari sub aqua, et suba quaetiam ovis incubare traditur. Vide 

 Sib. Scot. 21. 



