218 White-billed Northern Diver at Scarborough. 
in search of food, searching the piles and sides of the pier very 
closely, and the course of the submerged bird could be clearly 
traced by the air bubbles rising to the surface of the water. 
The Shags brought up small Coalfish, and also fish offal, and 
did not display any discrimnation in gulping down both living 
and dead food. 
Several Little Auks also availed themselves of the shelter 
afforded by the piers and paddled contentedly about, keeping 
at a respectful distance from their larger neighbours. A 
fisherman on board one of the trawlers scooped one up in his 
net as the bird swam past the stern of the boat, and called to 
his mates to come and look at the ‘little duck.’ After being 
somewhat roughly, but not unkindly, handed round for inspec- 
tion, it was decided to restore it to liberty and its captor placed 
it on the pier, from whence it was quite unable to take wing, 
probably from exhaustion, as I have seen specimens rise 
readily enough from the rocks on other occasions. The little 
bird crawled laboriously about, pushing itself along on its 
breast by means of its feet, its wings being also used as fore 
limbs to assist its progress. It was eventually thrown up 
into the air, and after a short flight alighted on the water. 
Immediately after, the company of Shags which had been 
foraging beneath the water, rose to the surface close to it. The 
Little Auk showed considerable awe of its larger neighbours 
and removed itself as quickly as possible by diving and swimm- 
ing, but the Shags made no effort to molest it. 
On February 29th, learning of the presence in the harbour 
on the previous day of a very large diver, I walked down and 
saw what at first I took to be a Great Northern Diver. On 
the approach of the bird, however, I formed another conclusion, 
but in consequence of the military prohibition of the use of 
field glasses, I had none with me and was obliged to come away 
ina state of uncertainty as to the visitor’s real identity. On 
the following day, I was again there and found the bird 
diving in the rough surf close inshore, where it appeared 
impossible for it to avoid being washed ashore. After a while 
it approached the pier very closely and from a sheltered nook, 
I was able to get a good look at it with my glasses, and to: 
confirm the opinion I had formed on the previous day, that 
it was an adult specimen of the White-billed Northern Diver 
(Colymbus adamst). At a distance of less than twenty yards, 
I could see the bird as if I held it in my hand, and the yellowish 
white bill, upper and lower mandibles the same colour, the latter 
much upcurved and giving the bill a distinctly turned-up. 
appearance, quite different from the bayonet-shaped bill of 
the commoner form, was very distinct. There was a very slight 
brownish tint at the extreme tip of the upper mandible which 
appeared to be due to abrasion of the cuticle at that part. The 
Naturalist, 
