98 
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES AND QUERIES. 
What would he do with it ? (p. 78).— The rat with the small roach in 
its mouth was most probably the brown rat, and not the water rat, or to speak 
more correctly, the water vole. The former is common enough on the banks of 
streams and ponds, and will devour almost anything it can come across. Natural- 
ists are now, I believe, thoroughly satisfied that the water vole, like its smaller 
congeners of the bank and the field, is exclusively a vegetable feeder. 
Fyfield, Abhigdon. W. H. Warner. 
Great Northern Diver (p. 78). — I cannot presume to say for certain 
whether the great northern diver breeds on the Scotch mainland. But I have 
been much in the North West Highlands, especially in Sutherlandshire, having 
spent seventeen or eighteen summer holidays there ; and I have frequently seen 
the northern diver there — in the month of August generally. An innkeeper gave 
me (in 1876 or thereabouts) a pair of eggs, supposed of the black-throated diver. 
I gave them to my brother, who was rather doubtful to which of the two species 
they belonged. These eggs are still at Rev. G. C. Green’s, Modbury, Ivy Bridge, 
Devon. It is most probable that they are of the black-throated, which I have 
often seen on the Sutherland mountain lochs. Once I saw' a pair of young birds 
on a tiny mountain tarn, almost fully grown ; they did not fly (though the old bird 
flew away at once), but continued diving in full view for quite half an hour. 
But if the Great Northern never breeds, why is it about the coast in summer, 
and about the hill lochs ? for I have seen them there. 
Hepworth Rectory, Diss. W. C. Green. 
The presence of the great northern diver on various parts of the coast of Great 
Britain has frequently been remarked upon. But this fact does not of itself afford 
the slightest evidence that the birds intended to breed in those localities, or 
anywhere near them. For instance, adult examples have been observed and 
obtained so far south as Devonshire in May, June and September (vide Birds of 
Devon, p. 41 1). The late Mr. R. Gray stated that this diver was abundant in the 
Outer Hebrides at all seasons of the year except July, and that a few remained in 
Benbecula all the summer ; he adds, on the information of Dr. Scouler, that by 
the end of August those birds which left for a time were back again accompanied 
by their young ones (vide Yarrell, 4th ed.). 
The generally accepted opinion, nevertheless, is that the great northern diver 
has bred in the Shetlands (as recorded by Saxby) in times past, and that it w’ill do 
so again ; while that a pair observed in June, 1868, in Sutherlandshire were 
actually breeding. But hitherto the fact of the great northern diver having bred 
in any part of the British Isles has never been proved. To say, therefore, that 
this species breeds in the north of Scotland is, in the present state of our 
knowledge of the subject, an inaccuracy. 
O. V. Api.in. 
London Birds. — As Mr. Macpherson remarks (page 46), the London 
thrushes frequently both begin and end the year with song, and indeed are 
seldom altogether silent for very long ; I have heard them Oiore or less during 
every month of the year. The London blackbirds, however, so far as my observa- 
tions go, are usually some two or three weeks behind tlieir country brethren. 
These generally begin to sing early in February, but of late years I have seldom 
heard our town representatives in full song before the beginning of March, and 
sometimes even later. The chiff-chaff, blackcap, common and lesser whitethroat, 
willow, sedge, reed and garden warblers, all made more or less prolonged visits to 
Battersea Park during the spring and summer of 1896. The reed warbler, as 
usual, had several nests, and a writer in the /•';>/(/ (October 31, 1896) gives the 
common whitethroat as another nesting species. This in itself is not remarkable, 
but the writer goes on to say, bringing forward some of the park officials as his 
authorities, that a pair of whitethroats, in 1895, hatched and reared a young cuckoo 
in a clump of dwarf bamboo.s. If authentic, and the evidence given seems very 
conclusive, the incident is very noteworthy, as the cuckoo is not a very frequent 
visitor to Battersea. The same writer also records the visit of two pairs of king- 
