U E D - T II U GATE D 1) I V E 1 { . 
COTAMBUS SEPTENTRIONALIS. 
Tms is by far the most numerous of the Divers tliat frequent the seas around our shores or take up their 
summer quarters and rear their young in the more northern portions of the British Islands. 
As a rule this speeies selects its hreediog-haunts in flat districts, though I met with a few pairs on 
the lonely lochs in the rough hill-country to the north of Loch Maree in the west of Boss-shire. A pair 
were evidently breeding on Loch na Lad in May 18G8 ; but though the water was closely watched for 
several hours neither eggs nor young could be detected, and a terrible deluge of rain with blusterous 
squalls of wind that burst upon us shortly after our arrival put a stop to all attempts to catch a glimpse 
of the birds on a second occasion, and rendered a speedy retreat from that dreary solitude at once 
necessary. 
In June 1868, while procuring Divers as specimens for preserving, two eggs of this species were 
discovered on the edge of a piece of black peaty water near the Crask in Sutherland. Our inspection 
of their treasures appeared to have proved annoying to the birds, and a second pair were laid at the 
distance of about twenty yards from the first. These eggs were placed, as is usually the case with this 
species, wuthin a few feet of the edge of the pool, the Bed-throated for the most part choosing a cradle 
for its young on the mainland, while its Black-throated relative almost invariably selects an island. 
The Bed-throated Diver is especially numerous in the central and eastern parts of Sutherland and 
also on the flat moors of Caithness, breeding in great abundance about the floes in the centre of the 
county, the black pools of water and the swampy nature of the country occasionally rendering their 
eggs unapproachable. At the time of my visit to this locality, I found the portalde india-rubber boat 
most useful in exploring these desolate swamps, and by its help I succeeded in reaelung the haunts of 
every pair marked down on the open moors. 
I have usually remarked that these birds are to be found in great numbers when sprats are plentiful otf 
our coasts. On the 8th and 9th of January, 1880, the weather at the time being dull and cold, with a light 
easterly wind and sharp frost, the boats off Brighton and Shoreham, as well as along towards the west, 
off Lancing, IVorthing, and Goring, were taking large hauls of fish. Bed-throated Divers Avere exceedingly 
abundant on the water, and large flights were also passing towards the west, at least five hundred being 
seen on wing during the space of an hour at midday on the 9th, flying in flocks of from twenty to double 
that number and also in a continuous stream of single birds. Scarcely a winter has passed when 1 have been 
shooting in the Channel off the coasts of Kent or Sussex without large numbers coming under my observation 
previous to squally weather ; they arc then seen passing west in small parties, following one another iu 
rapid succession. 
The summer plumage is occasionally retained till late in the year ; during the last week in October 1872, 
while steaming with the herring-llect outside the Cross Sands off Yarmouth, I noticed some hundreds of 
