86 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
the loch, but, about 6.45, one of the birds—the male as far as I 
could feel sure—began swimming up it, in a purposeful manner, 
accompanied by one only of the chicks—the other staying with 
the mother. The male, if it were he, swam, with this one chick, 
to the exact spot where either he, or his mate, had rested 
yesterday, with the two of them, and, behind it, they disappeared, 
and for the next hour or hour and a half the surface of the loch 
knew them no more. The mother and remaining chick kept 
where she had been, or swam from there to about the centre of 
the loch, which was not very far. They often became almost 
invisible, for it had come on to rain in fitful showers, or mists 
arose which had the effect of making the little loch look as large — 
as a widely extended one. Whilst it was still clear, however, 
an interesting incident occurred. I had the glasses on the parent 
bird, and saw her whole aspect change, in a moment, as she shot 
suddenly forward and then reared herself high above the surface 
of the water, showing almost the whole of the smooth and 
gleaming white under surface. Almost at the same moment 
another Red-throated Diver came into the focus of the glasses, 
as I slightly moved them, a few yards in front of the first one, 
and swimming fast away from her. Evidently it was a stranger 
bird that had come down on the loch, whilst I had the glasses 
up, so that I did not see it fly in, to meet with this hostile 
reception. 
The pursuing bird reared itself, again, in anger, shot for- 
ward, and then dived. It came up, again, close to where the 
other had been, and then, rising from the water, flew after it, 
disappearing, as the stranger had done just before, within a 
little bay of the loch. The next moment, the intruder came 
flying over the rising ground that had hidden him, and the 
victorious guardian reappeared suddenly by its chick, from 
beneath the water, having dived back to it. 
Some time after this—about 8.15 or 8.20 p.m.—the parent 
and chick swam up to the other end of the loch, where they 
disappeared in the mist. A few minutes later I saw, probably, 
the same parent swimming down fast, alone, in a very purposeful 
manner. She made straight for the bay from which she had 
recently expelled the stranger bird, and, disappearing into it, 
there was almost immediately a similar flight out. My reading 
