280 
ANATIDyE. 
of the bird, that they were undoubtedly those of the Northern 
Diver. Since that time no more eggs appear to have been 
found, although the birds themselves have been seen by me in 
other parts of the island during the breeding season, and chiefly 
in fresh- water lochs. In answer to my enquiries concerning 
the nest, the finder of the eggs informed me that they were 
discovered lying upon the bare lieather a few yards from the 
edge of a loch in a remote part of the hills, about half a mile 
from the nearest salt water. The eggs had been so long in- 
cubated that it was impossible to blow them in the ordinary 
manner, and the method of overcoming the difficulty being 
then unknown to me, the process caused some little disfigure- 
ment. They were all very much alike, both in size and colour, 
being a dark warm olive brown, with a few scattered spots of 
umber brown and dusky grey. In length they very closely 
agree with Mr Hewitson’s figure, but two of them are about a 
line less in breadth. I am not aware that the eggs of the 
Eed-throated Diver have ever been found of similar dimensions, 
nor is it at all probable that they can be those of the Black- 
throated Diver, a species almost, if not entirely, unknown to 
Shetland, even as an occasional visitor, 
Once afterwards I received another Diver’s egg from the 
same island, but since that time a dealer has prevented me from 
jjrocuring any rarities. The eggs of this bird have doubtless 
been discovered accidentally in former years, but it should 
always be remembered that until very lately the Shetlanders 
would not take the trouble to search for scattered nests upon 
the hills, considering it better worth their while to visit cliffs 
and small holms, where eggs could be easily gathered in large 
quantities. The above simple facts speak so plainly for them- 
selves that I need add nothing to them, except that leading 
questions were never resorted to, and that such evidence as I 
have adduced should not be entirely set aside simply because 
the Black-throated Diver — a species which has never yet 
been recognised in Shetland — sometimes lays eggs of about 
the same size as those of the Great Northern Diver. 
