2 
BLACK-THROATED DIVER. 
and joined them, the whole making off in a straight line in the direetion of Loeh Shin. I remarked that 
Black-throated Divers, when flying in company, always kept in line one behind another at regular intervals. 
"Whether these gatherings, which were occasionally composed of as many as fifteen or twenty birds, consisted 
of those that had been robbed of their eggs or young, or had merely met together for the sake of company, 
it was impossible to form an opinion, as possibly on my next visit to the loch on which they had been 
observed only a single pair would he visible. 
The Black-throated Diver nests early in the season ; I met with eggs almost on the point of hatching 
on a small island in a loch near the west coast of Ross-shire on the 21st of May, 18G8. A second 
may possibly he sometimes reared; as late as July 7 in the same year I discovered two eggs on an 
island in Loch Craggie, a few miles to the cast of Lairg. In all probability, however, in this instance, 
the bird had been robbed of her eggs once or twice earlier in the season. 
On the Norfolk Broads these Divers are now and then seen in immature plumage or while undergoing 
the change into the adult dress, and the same remarks also apply to the species in the channel off the 
coast of Sussex. The old birds are seldom seen here in full plumage, though one specimen in a remarkably 
perfect state was observed off Shoreham in 1883, so late as the Gth of October. 
Numbers of Divers, both Black- and Red-throated, were to be seen about the lochs in the Long Island 
at the time of my visit in May 1877, and both species were found to be especially abundant about the 
upper portion of Loch Seaforth. This fine sheet of water separates Ilarris from Lewis for many miles, 
and although the tide flows up to the head of the loch, a narrow passage, known as “ the rapids ” in the 
district, renders navigation impossible except at certain states of tide. The majority of the Divers appeared 
to shun these narrow falls : a fine adult Black-throated, however, made the attempt to pass up where 
the torrent was pouring down wuth tremendous force; again and again he faced the rushing waters and 
was carried back, hut at last by sheltering under the stones and in the swirl of the backwaters by the 
banks he attained his object, and having surmounted all difficulties sailed majestically up towards the 
head of the loch. 
The newly hatched young are covered with a thick dusky black down and, like all waterfowl, take 
to their natural element immediately after leaving the shell. 
