. British birds. Birds. VOL. XVI.] HABITS OF RED-THROATED DIVER. 41 and says it is adopted when Ravens or Black-backed Gulls fly overhead. The bird sat very quiet as an intruder approached, not doing much more than move its head slightly until one was within about six feet, when she would begin to give utterance to the guttural sounds above alluded to. I was able to photograph her at the near limit of the lens, getting what one may call a "close-up" picture (Fig. 5). On the two occasions when I went right up to her, she had to be pushed off the nest; curiously enough, when another me
. British birds. Birds. VOL. XVI.] HABITS OF RED-THROATED DIVER. 41 and says it is adopted when Ravens or Black-backed Gulls fly overhead. The bird sat very quiet as an intruder approached, not doing much more than move its head slightly until one was within about six feet, when she would begin to give utterance to the guttural sounds above alluded to. I was able to photograph her at the near limit of the lens, getting what one may call a "close-up" picture (Fig. 5). On the two occasions when I went right up to her, she had to be pushed off the nest; curiously enough, when another member of the party visited her on the day succeeding one of my visits, she slipped off the nest when he was at a fair distance. On neither of my visits did she resume her position on the. Fig. o. i\ED-THi;oATED DiVER I Attitude adopted when swimming on open water, hesitating to attack an intruder between herself and the nest. [Photographed by J. S. Huxley.) nest as soon as I had gone ; in fact, on the only occasion when I gave special notice to this point, she refused to come on as long as I remained within sight—a distance of over 400 yards. I conclude that the different behaviour recorded by Dr. van Oordt was due to his having seen her at a later stage of incubation. The bird did not attempt to peck at an intruder until he was within striking distance (Figs. 3,4). When pushed off the nest on two occasions by me, she did not attempt at once to peck, as she did at a later stage (see above). On the contrary, she swam off and remained some ten yards away. On my wading out between her and her nest, perhaps the most interesting of all her actions took Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original London, Witherby & Co
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherl, booksubjectbirds
