£34 GOLD MIXES IV FIUVCE. 



know therefore whether it really exist ; and, if it exist, for 

 what purpose it is intended. 1 can scarcely suppose it to be 

 for the purpose of "hatching its egu.'s, as in this ease, I tiiitik 

 the bird must have been caught occasionally with an egg in 

 it. Lewin, who studied more from nature than from books, 

 says in his beautiful work, the Birds of Great Britain, that 

 we. have no information to be depended upon of the manner 

 of breeding of the d iters, which he makes, I conceive with 

 propriety, a distinct genus. He conjectures, however, 

 that they make a floating nest on retired waters like the 

 grebes. 

 InconsUten- i would farther remark, that the first and last sentence in 

 cie* m other the paragraph above quoted seem more applicable to the 

 Sescriuuoa. northern diver, colymbus glacialis, than to the immer : but 

 the assertion in tl>e second sentence, that " it lives con- 

 stantly on dryland," appears altogether inapplicable to any 

 of the diver genus. Lewin, speaking of this genus says, 

 f* if we consider the situation of their legs at the extreme 

 part of the body, and their having scarcely any thighs, we 

 must be convinced, that they were not intended for walk- 

 ing : we cannot suppose therefore, that these birds are in- 

 habitants of the land, but that they breed and live on the 

 water only." In fact* if nature webbed their feet for them 

 to live on drv land, she has done something in vain. 



XI. 



On the Gold Mines in the Department of the here, by Heri- 

 cart de Thtjry, Mine Engineer*. 



JL HE existence of gold mines in France has long been 



■tune* known questioned, though old writers have given us the most posi- 



to the old t' lve accounts of them ; and the auriferous sands have been 



wt " ers ' considered as our only sources of this metal. The want of 



accuracy in terms, uncertainty of place, vague information, 



and mysterious air of the mountaineers, who are naturally 



mistrustful, have long prevented credit from being given to 



* Abridged from the Journal des Mines, vol. XX, p. 101. 



the 



