100 THE ORNITHOLOGIST S GUIDE 



ably shy ; I tried several times to get a shot at it, 

 but was unsuccessful. I am much surprised that 

 Dr. Edmonston, a native of Shetland, who has 

 resided there many. years, and who has had con- 

 stant opportunities of procuring and examining 

 specimens of the natural history of his country, 

 should have asserted in his published History of 

 Shetland, that the Cohjmbus glacialis, as exhi- 

 bited in museums, and described and figured in 

 books on ornithology, is not known there. I am 

 convinced, from the number I have seen, that the 

 most ignorant man could not cross any of the 

 sounds from one island to another, (which all there 

 are obliged frequently to do^) without observing 

 them. 



Colymbus arcticuSj Linn. Black- throated 

 Diver. — I have never seen this bird in Shetland; 

 there is however no doubt of its visiting there oc- 

 casionally. It is extremely rare in Orkney; I 

 only saw three during my stay there, but did not 

 succeed in getting one. They were sitting on the 

 water in Hoy Sound, but flew off to sea before I 

 got within shot of them. It is rather larger than 

 the Red-throated Diver, and like it has the same 

 disagreeable cry. It is even more shy than the 

 Northern Diver. It is reported that the Black- 



