there; in Somersetshire, however, one slightly changing to
winter plumage is recorded by Mr. Cecil Smith as killed at
Williton in December, 1875. In the London market the
young are occasionally to he met with, and during the winter
of 1836 Mr. Bartlett purchased two birds, one of which, an
adult with a fine black throat, was obtained in the month
of January; the other was a young one. Mr. S. Mummery,
of Margate, sent the Author notice that a beautiful specimen
was captured on the 2nd of June, 1842, in Sandwich Haven,
and this, being a very fine male bird, was preserved, and
deposited in the museum at Margate. The late Rev. Richard
Lubbock stated that in the year 1832, a fine pair, killed on
one of the broads of Norfolk, formed part of the collection
of Mr. Penrice; but most of the examples of this species
have been obtained in winter, and were young birds. To
the shores of Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland,
the Black-throated Diver is a rare winter visitant.
In 1830, a fine mature specimen was killed at the
mouth of the Tweed, and several young birds on different
parts of the coast, and upon the river Tyne. Selby, after
examining the bird from which Thomas Bewick engraved the
figure of his Lesser Imber, had no doubt that it is the
young of the year of this species. More recently examples
of this bird have been obtained on many parts of the coast,
and also inland.
To Ireland this Diver has always been a rare visitor,
and Thompson only records two authenticated instances; to
which may be added one mentioned by Mr. R. Warren
(Zool. 1877, p. 329), a bird exhibiting the full black throat,
seen at the mouth of the Moy in April, 1851, and several
observed by Mr. H. L. Cox near Dublin in winter and spring
(Zool. 1879, p. 484).
In Scotland the Black-throated Diver was first proved to
be a breeding-species by the late Mr. Selby and Sir William
Jardine in 1834, and the former gives the following account
of their discovery :—“When in Sutherlandshire we found this
species upon most of the locljs of the interior. The first we
noticed vTas at the foot of Loch Shin, where we were so fortunate
as to find the nest, or rather the two eggs, upon the
bare ground of a small islet, removed about ten or twelve feet
from the water’s edge. The female was seen in the act of
incubation, sitting horizontally, and not in an upright position,
upon the eggs. In plumage she precisely resembled
the male, and when fired at immediately swam, or rather
dived off to him at a short distance. Our pursuit after them
was, however, ineffectual, though persevered in for a long
time, as it was impossible to calculate where they were likely
to rise after diving. Submersion frequently continued for
nearly two minutes at a time, and they generally reappeared
at nearly a quarter of a mile’s distance from the spot where
they had gone down. In no instance have I ever seen them
attempt to escape by taking wing. I may observe that a
visible track from the water to the eggs was made by the
female, whose progress upon land is effected by shuffling
along upon her belly, propelled by her legs behind. On the
day following, Saturday, the 31st of May, Mr. J. Wilson
was fortunate enough to find two newly-hatched young ones
in a small creek of Loch Craggie, about two and a half
miles from Lairg. After handling and examining them,
during winch the old birds approached very near to him, he
left them in the same spot, knowing that we were anxious to
obtain the old birds. Accordingly on the Monday morning
we had the boat conveyed to the loch, and on our arrival
soon descried the two old birds attended by their young, and
apparently moving to a different part of the loch. Contrary
to their usual habit at other times, they did not attempt to
dive upon our approach, but kept swimming around their
young, which, from their tender age, were unable to make
much way in the water, and we got sufficiently near to shoot
both of them through the neck and head, the only parts
accessible to shot, as they swim with the whole body nearly
submerged. The female could only be distinguished from
the male hy a slight inferiority of size, and both Avere in
the finest adult, or summer plumage. We afterwards saAv
several pairs upon various lochs, and upon Loch Kay [sic] a
pair, attended by two young ones nearly half grown. When