Their Eggs and Ncsfs. 203 



other cases they dig their own holes, and often exca- 

 vate them to the depth of two or three feet. The eggs 

 are nearly white before they become soiled — that is, 

 spotted and marbled with a tinge of ash colour. 



FAMILY II.— COLYMBIDiE. 



GREAT NORTHERN Vil^Y.^—{Colymhus glacialis). 



Greatest Speckled Diver, Great Doucker, Immer, 

 Iinmer Diver. — This magnificent bird — I shot one, in 

 full plumage, several years since, which weighed nearly 

 thirteen pounds — is usually found at some distance 

 from the coast, except during that part of the year 

 which is devoted to the work of propagation. There 

 seems good reason to think some of them may breed 

 in some of the most northerly British Islands, but no 

 authentic history of its ever having been known to 

 do so, is, I believe, extant. 



BLACK-THROATED DIVER— (r^/j;;//;;/^ arcticus), 



Lumme, Northern Doucker, Speckled Loon. — The 

 rarest of the three Divers known in our seas. It is, 

 liowever, described as breeding in several of the lakes 

 of Sutherlandshire. It makes no nest, but lays its 

 two eg^'S on the bare ground, at no great distance 

 from the water-edge. These are in some instances of 

 a light shade of chocolate-brown, others having more 

 of an olive-brown tinge about them, and sparingly 

 spotted with black. 



