682 The Zoologist — April, 1867. 



The two other adults Temminck and his disciples would call in their 

 second year. Many of these autumn adults as I have killed, I never 

 examined any so closely as I did these : there were the faded and worn 

 feathers of summer loose and sapless in the skin ; there was the body 

 thickly covered with the new and speckled feathers of winter, in all 

 stages of maturity, from the incipient pen to the perfect feather; there 

 was the worn and loose red throat concealing the sprouting white 

 feathers; there were the lead-coloured sides to the neck and the 

 streaky mane — all very volatile to the touch, and giving place to the 

 winter garb ; there was the black bill turning into livid, and there 

 were the ovaries that had multiplied their kind. 



TJie Redlhroated Diver no " Red throat n till Ttvo Years old. — 

 October 28. Of four redlhroated divers shot to-day I picked out a most 

 valuable bird to me — a long-known and long-looked-for link in my pre- 

 sent series of this bird : it is the second autumn moult, and connects 

 the second summer and second winter. Notwithstanding what we read 

 I presume that most observers know that the redlhroated diver assumes 

 no red or gray on the throat till the second spring; that is, not till 

 nearly two years old. I can now illustrate this both in the first spring 

 moult and the second autumn moult. 



Scarcity of the Redlhroated Diver in Dublin Bay at the end of 

 1866. — December 26th. My foretellings are right. Northern divers, 

 market stocked; redthroated divers, a great demand, but no show; 

 a few yearlings changed hands. The Fenians can have nothing to say 

 to this, as the prohibition to carry arms has shut up many an old 

 leveller. For the " good of trade," we hope Government will keep all 

 marauders off Dublin Bay except the " Gray Gulls." Our opinion is, 

 if such was done things would look up again. 



[First Arrival of the Purple Sandpiper in 1866 : Habits. — Oct. 20. 

 Winter has set in ; I saw the first purple sandpipers of the season. Dear 

 little creatures ! you are just as tame to-day as you were in those good 

 old years, alas ! now past, when I, in love with you, would lie down be- 

 side your little flocks and watch you feed and pick and play not an arm's 

 length from me, and oh ! what thrills of joy your sweet low plaintive 

 notes, when two met, would send to my heart, for I then knew 

 few had ever heard such notes, or had ever been so near to you in real 

 life, or ever seen that deep purple back shine like some rich topaz 

 beneath the rays of the setting sun, when every sea-drop hanging to 

 the weird brown sea-weeds were sparks of fire, and the sea laving our 

 granite rock with ceaseless murmurs seemed throwing mimic waves 





