192 
BLACK -THROATED DIVER. 
the bird lying, as it were, on the eggs, but with the 
head raised, having heard our approach. On per- 
ceiving us she scuffled along her short trodden path 
to the water, diving immediately, and rising out of 
gun-shot, diving again almost instantaneously, and 
joining the male, which was apparently surveying the 
scene at a few hundred yards distance. On another 
loch we succeeded in procuring both the male and fe- 
male birds, from their being accompanied with their 
young, which had been hatched on a bare promon- 
tory near. When unaccompanied with the young, 
we have never been able to overtake this bird on 
the water ; it could invariably beat a couple of good 
rowers, even though kept almost constantly under 
water by firing at it, and if approached within a 
moderate distance, its next rise might probably be 
many hundred yards a-stern, having closed and 
doubled on the way of the boat. On these occasions 
the bird never attempted to fly. From the accounts 
of those persons who have visited Orkney and Shet- 
land, the Black-throated Diver also breeds there in 
the fresh-water lochs, though not very abundantly. 
It occurs also in Ireland, but we have no account of 
its breeding there. In Middle and Southern Eu- 
rope it is found occasionally, as upon our own shores, 
most sparingly to the south, and there the specimens 
obtained are principally birds in immature plumage. 
In the north of Europe, Norway, Sweden, Lap- 
land, and Scandinavia, it breeds among the retired 
lakes, and, from all our information, is by no means 
uncommon, appearing with the first break of the ice. 
