DOMESTIC HABITS OF RED-THROATED DIVER. 177 
have kept within the bay, floating idly on the water, sometimes 
keeping for along time in almost exactly the same spot, some- 
times not so stationary, because of the wind, sometimes paddling 
within a small orbit, and, at intervals, sleeping on the water, with 
their heads turned backwards and beaks thrust into the feathers 
of their backs. There is, to-day, a much more liberal allowance 
of sunlight, which makes the black loch sparkle, and shows to 
much more advantage the great beauty of plumage of the parent 
bird. The perpendicular stripings of the neck would, I suppose, 
be claimed by the followers of Thayer as ‘‘ obliterative ’’—there- 
fore protective—but it would puzzle one, I think, to say how 
this applies in the present case. The stripes seem to produce 
a prismatic effect (at any rate, through the glasses), which is 
certainly calculated to attract rather than escape notice—they 
seem crowned with a rainbow light; again, both the delicate 
mauvey-grey of the head and neck, and the red patch on the 
throat, are conspicuous, each in its own way, so that any pro- 
tective effect of the stripes, were this a reality, would be nullified 
by them. With what does either of these tints harmonise ? 
From the moment that coloration can be seen at all, the head, 
neck, and throat of this bird are all most conspicuous, as also 
the red eye and black beak, with its well-defined, dagger-like 
outline. Both the stripes and the mauve have, indeed, a 
peculiar effect, but it is an effect which catches the eye, not one 
which escapes it. When the bird sat on the little green pro- 
jecting bank, here, the bluish head, rising above it, was salient 
enough, and unlike any other shape or colour round about it, 
either near or far—yet these are its chosen breeding-haunts. 
It was, in fact, the saliency of this head which first gave me an 
insight into the habits of the species in this respect. On the 
surface of the lochs themselves these divers are, at once, seized by 
the eye, especially their head and neck, about which there is 
something very distinctive. In short, in their striping, colour- 
ing, shape, size, and tout ensemble there is nothing protective, 
unless it be claimed that, by being easily distinguished, they 
attract only cursory observation.* 
5.30.—Female in with the same long, rounded, shiny-looking 
* Tam not, in this, denying the principle of protective coloration, but 
the fact is, there are really ‘“‘two kings of Brentford,’ and the official 
crowned one is always encroaching on the throne of his compeer. 
Gool, 4th ser. vol. XVI., May, 1912, P 
