ORNITHOLOGICAL OBSERVATION IN ICELAND. 269 



this species which have come under my observation, here in 

 Iceland, one contained a single egg* only, which had been sat 

 upon for some time. It seems probable, therefore, that, in 

 course of time, one egg only will be laid by the Great Northern 

 Diver, as one might expect of a bird which has only one chick. 

 And it is curious that the Red-throated Diver also seems travelling 

 in this direction, for though it lays two or more eggs, which 

 normally represent as many chicks, yet of these two (three is 

 rare, but I have seen it) one very commonly dies, sufficiently so, 

 in fact, for an authorised " watcher " of this species to have 

 expressed the fact by saying, generally, that the chicks 

 " dwindled." And this word, which was used in reference to the 

 actual dying, as well as consequent diminution of the family, is 

 applicable also to the process of it, the chick that is fated not 

 to survive, being born, apparently, with a want of vitality which 

 shows itself, from the very first, in a disposition to sit on the 

 bank, for a longer and longer time before coming into the water 

 (where alone it is fed) and to return to it, again, in a shorter and 

 shorter time, till, at last, it is found lying dead there. Thus 

 these two species show a chain of progression from a larger, yet 

 small, family, to the smallest possible, the earlier links of which, 

 only, have been passed through by the one, whilst the other has 

 reached the last of them, which, however, has not yet become 

 fixed. The links, as I have seen them, but with two probable 

 intermediate ones t added, are (1) three eggs and three chicks, (2) 

 three eggs and two chicks only, owing to the early death of one 

 out of the three, (3) three eggs and two chicks only, owing to one 

 egg not hatching, (4) two eggs and two chicks, (5) two eggs and 

 one chick only, owing to the early death of the other one, (6) two 

 eggs and one chick only, owing to one of the two eggs not 

 hatching, (7) the family of one only, egg and chick. Some may 

 think, perhaps, that this is counting the links of the chain from 

 the wrong end, and that the Diver family has increased instead 

 of diminishing ; but I cannot suppose that any egg or any chick 

 would be, at first, and as the usual thing, infertile or unable to 



:;: I ascertained that this was so from the beginning. 



f (2) and (3) namely. Of course one cannot tell how many eggs were 

 normally laid when the process which I have suggested, and to some extent 

 observed, commenced 



