GREAT NORTHERN DIVER 237 



The range of the species extends in winter to the elevated lakes of 

 Mexico on the American side of the Atlantic, and in Europe to the 

 Mediterranean and, it is said, Madeira. 



Like the salmon, the loon leaves the sea, which forms its home for 

 the rest of the year, at the commencement of the breeding-season to 

 hatch its eggs and rear its young in the neighbourhood of inland fresh- 

 waters. Unlike the aforesaid fish, the diver does not, however, by 

 any means abstain from food when on freshwater, and at all seasons 

 consumes large quantities of fishes, as well as crayfish and other 

 crustaceans. As previously mentioned, these birds when under water 

 propel themselves entirely by means of their hind-limbs, and the pace 

 at which they then progress, and the long time they can remain below 

 are little short of marvellous. Such a great unwieldy bird can naturally 

 rise from the water only with difficulty, as its wings are relatively short, 

 and it generally seeks safety by diving. It has been known, however, 

 to take flight (with the usual flapping along the water at starting) im- 

 mediately upon being fired at ; while more commonly it will take wing 

 after coming up from a dive, the impetus thus gained perhaps aiding 

 it to commence its flight. Divers are not infrequently caught in 

 fishing-nets, into the meshes of which they drive their heads and necks ; 

 while they are likewise from time to time taken on baited hooks. 

 Their cry has been compared to the bark of a small dog. Unlike 

 some of its kindred, the great northern diver apparently always lays 

 on land, the nest being a rude structure of grass, flags, etc., situated a 

 short distance from the water's edge, to which a regular path is soon 

 made by the birds pushing themselves along in their own peculiar 

 fashion, with the breast on the ground. The speed and silence with 

 which the sitting hen will thus glide into the water are not a little remark- 

 able. The two eggs, which measure from a little over 3 to nearly 

 4 inches in their longer diameter, display black spots of variable size, 

 with indistinct underlying markings of dark grey, upon an olive-brown 

 or chocolate-brown ground. 



Of the aforesaid white-billed diver {C adainsi) a specimen was 

 killed in Northumberland at some unknown date, a second was obtained 

 at Pakenham, in Suffolk, in 1852, a third at Loch Fyne in 1893, and 

 there is a fourth in the collection of British birds at the Booth Museum, 

 Brighton. The beak is dirty yellow rather than white. 



