260 BIRDS. 



as October 15th, and as late as June 2d, in both instances in 

 full adult plumage. 



Mr. Irvine-Fortescue informs us that he saw a pair of divers, 

 which he took to be of this species, on May 25th, 1886, which 

 still wanted the dark band round their throats. 



Mr. Watt says that he has never seen this bird at Skaill ; he 

 thinks they prefer the quiet bays of the more inland waters to 

 the exposed ones of the west coast. 



Mr. Spence was informed that a Great Northern Diver had 

 been captured on a rock, Ness of Brough, Sanday, on November 

 6th, 1880, in full summer plumage. 



In 1889 a pair of these divers stayed in St. Margaret's 

 Hope up to the middle of June certainly, and possibly later. 



Mr. Moodie-Heddle sends us the following notes : 



"Nearly as common as ever. In 1867 I saw a flock of over 

 twenty in Scapa Flow in the month of July. They were five 

 or six miles from land, and calling like a pack of hounds. It 

 was calm, and they were swimming all together. There was a 

 pair all summer of 1877 and 1878 at Waulkmill Bay, Orphir, 

 and I felt certain they were breeding, though I could not find 

 their nest. In August 1878 I saw one young one swimming 

 with them in the sea ; this bird was too young to have come 

 from any distance. 



" The Northern Diver screams before gales of wind in winter, 

 just as the Eed-throated Diver cackles in summer before rain ; 

 the long screaming whistle or yell of the Northern Diver is a 

 much more effective and ' eerie ' sound, however. It is usually 

 made just before diving." 



Mr. Monteith-Ogilvie writes us that he saw a dozen of these 

 birds together, near Kirkwall, in -November 1889. 



Colymbus arcticus, L. Black-throated Diver, 



Appears always to have been a rare species in Orkney, and we 

 have no authentic instance of its breeding anywhere in the 

 islands. Mr. Moodie-Heddle says it is getting scarce in Hoy, 

 but he never seems to have found it breeding there, so that 

 this must refer to its passing visits. 



