GREAT NORTHERN DIVER,
clow quarters. A shot with tlio punt-gun at once settled the specimen, obtained on the Broad iu NovcnLber,
and a green cartridge from a milzzlc-londing 10-boro brought down the second, whose state I could scarcely
judge at the Urst glance, while crossing the sounds on wing ut a considerable elevation early In December.
Our encounter with the third may be described by the following extract from my notes " December 14. All
signs of frost vanished. On reaching the Broad, the surface of the water was as smooth as glass, and soon after
d i_vbreak we detected a Great Northern Diver on the deep water in tlie channel near l'h asnre 11 ilk, and, as
the light increased, ascertained that the stranger was busily engaged iu diving for food, though apparently
meeting with but little success, as it was not until we were within seventy or eighty yards tbat the bird came
Up with a small pike of about twelve or fourteen inches iu length. Hero we stopped the punt to watch its
odious, and remarked that the prey was grasped crosswny.s in the beak and assiduously shaken for over live
minutes, this treatment being doubtless administered with the intention of disabling or killing the tish before it was
swallowed. At length, as the bird appeared a liner specimen than any previously scoured, I lired the big gun
at the range of about eighty yards, when, after beating the water violently with its wings for a few seconds, it
dived, speedily reappearing again on the surface, evidently hard struck and uttering the most mournful cries I
ever beard proceeding from the throat of a bird. Desirous of putting an end to i's sufferings as soon as possible,
T picked up a heavy 10-bore breech-loader, and as the Diver continued swimming towards ihe boat, discharged
one barrel at the distance of between forty and fifty yards. Though lying motionless on the surface of the
water for a moment after receiving the charge, it again Happed towards the puut, which had now turned round,
and having made its way so close that a second shot must have damaged it as a specimen, the bird was
allow id lo ei mt I uue iis course, i ill, reaching the stern of our craft it scrambled on to the after-deck and was
sluillliug opeu-inouthcd over tin- wash-streak into the interior, when it was seized by the neck by the puntman,
who soon put an end to its struggles. The Diver was remarkable for its size, and proved also to he in exceedingly
good condition, weighing just over !) lbs. ; the two previously obtained bad only turned the scales at 8 and
Si lbs. The iris was a deep olive-brown, the mandibles white, with the exception of a dark mark down the ridge
of the upper, extending almost to the point. Inside of month a di •! y livid while lint; h gs outside black, inside
white, edges light grey ; toes black ; webs white, with veins of purple tinge show ing very conspicuously down
the centre."
During my wanderings through the Outer Islands of the Hebrides, I again often listened to the monotonous
wailing notes of this species. An immature bird that was particularly noisy attracted our attention one
morning in May 1877, on a saltwater loch in the Park district of the Island of Lewi-, while we were obtaining
a shot at an old female "White-tailed Eagle. This Diver evidently possessed vocal powers of the highest order,
for it treated us to a most discordant concert for our half an hour, plunging below the surface occasionally,
and again on reappearing uttering its mournful cries.
Full-plumagcd birds are to he seen every spring in the Channel off the coast of Sussex ; they first put in
an appearance about the middle of April, and are to he met with throughout the greater part of May. Some
seasons they pass along in immense numbers, all making their way from nest to east, hound towards their
11reisling-grounds in the far north; the wind doubtless accounts for the course followed; occasionally they
shelter under our shores and at limes are forced to seek smooth water aero— the Channel. Adults and those in
various immature stages often travel in company. On the 21st of April, 1871, I noticed half a dozen line mature
birds intermixed with three or four that exhibited only a mottled or half-and-half slate of plumage, about ten
miles at sea oil Brighton ; a few days later some Worthing fishermen informed us that they had met with
thirteen in one party oil Goring about the same date, half of which were in full plumage.
To obtain specimens of these Divers out on the open sea is by no means an easy matter, the birds invariably
dive '1 r. it might be more correct to say. submerge themselves so rapidly, and the operation is performed willi
such little exertion, though they certainly go down head foremost, which has bei-n denied I when approached
Git 13AT XURIIIERN DIVER. •i
within about one hundred yards, and though the surface of I hi* water may be an smooth as glass, no signs of their
w hereabouts, not even I lie slightest ripple, can he detected till, when all is quiet and the boat moved off, they
again show themselves at the distance of about half a mile. Occasionally I have noticed a few immature birds
of Ibis species during the winter months while gunning off the coasts of Kent, Sussex, and Hampshire; the
last recorded iu my notes is under tin' dale of December 2111 li, 1SN!], when one was observed olf Lancing, several
Eiders and immense numbers of Scoters, both Velvet and Common, being on the water the same day.
While staying at Loch luver, on the west of Sutherland, during the summer of 1S77, I ascertained that
Great Northern Divers in full plumage were olten -ecu on many of the lochs along the coast, and that they
evinced a strong partiality fur Loch ltoe, a small sheet of water shut in by high rocks aud entered by a narrow
channel, where, if necessary, a shot might almost with certainty be obtained at a bird attempting to i'scapo
towards the open sea. On the 7th of June, the weather being too rough to tish or put to sea iu quest uf
specimens, I started with a gillie who was well acquainted with the ha unta of the birds, to drive lo Ihe loch hi a
rickety old dogcart, designated a " machine " by the nal i ves. Though I soon discovered our visit was made too
late, the Divers having,- left for the season, and only a few Razorbills aud one or two Red-tliroated Divers were
seen on the water, 1 was amply repaid by the drive through sueh a wild and primitive country. Hi-fore reaching
our destination we were obliged to leave the conveyance, as the rough track became too narrow fur even that,
small and humble vehicle. The gillie assured me Ihal the road, which was merely a slight excavation in the
hill-side with a few of the larger blocks of stone rolled down, hud been greatly improved upou during the past
few months, aud that previous to the alterations he himself considered it had lieen " very ill-looking." Neither
windows nor chimneys, I remarked, were to he seen iu the few aben I Inga we passed, and the peat-smoke was
forced to liud an outlet by means of the cracks aud crevices iu the dry slone walls or Ihruugh the doors*. The
carts made use of by the natives were small aud roughly- put together, somewhat resembling the " trawl" and
" barrow-carts " employed by tish.dealers and tradespeople at Yarmouth, w liich are fashioned to penetrate the
narrow passages termed the "rows."
While engaged iu obtaining a pair of Herons required as specimens along the face of the Cromarty rocks,
in May 1809, one uf them shut from the summit of a portion of the cliffs known ns the Cairn Rhui, fell
disabled towards the viator, and dropped on the back of a Great Northern Diver swimming slow ly towards the
cast, a short distance from the shore. The Diver evidently resented the injury, striking savagely two or three
times ut the cripple before ducking down below the surface ; alter a short absence he seemed disinclined to
leave the spot entirely, reappearing again within Ihe distance of sixty or seventy yards, and remaining on the
watch till put on the alert by the approach of a salmon-coble sent out from the lishing-statioii at Shaiidwick
to pick up Ihe wounded Heron.