DIVERS. 119 



Fam. Colymbid^. 

 GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. Cohjmhus gladalis, L. 



Yarrell, iv. p. 96 ; Harting, p. 68 ; Dresser, viii. p. 609 ; See- 

 holim, iii. p. 402; 76/*^ List, p. 201; Colymbus immer 

 (young), Pultenei/s List, p. 17. 



A winter visitant, freqnenting the coasts more or 

 less commonly from October to May, 



They appear regularly in Poole Bay in October, 

 and Mr. Pike informs me that in May he has often 

 seen them in full summer plumage, sometimes as 

 many as ei_ght or ten in a lot, as if making their way 

 to their northern breeding-haunts. 



In the spring of 1862, one which visited a piece 

 of enclosed water, through the protecting care of 

 Lord Digby stayed several weeks, and left unharmed. 

 Pulteney notices one taken on Chettle Down (a dis- 

 tance of twenty miles from the sea). On the rocky 

 shores of Kimmeridge Bay small parties are often 

 seen in the winter. A fine male in full plumage 

 was shot at Bexington, Abbotsbury, where another 

 was shot in 1836, and is preserved in the collection 

 of Viscount Portman. Several in summer plumage 

 were killed at Poole in the early spring of 1883. 

 "East Looe, a boat-channel in Poole harbour close 

 to the main beach, is a favourite fishing-ground of 

 these divers, and in 1883 hardly a day passed from 

 October to March without one or two being visible 

 in it " (T. M. Pike). Colymbus immer, which Pul- 

 teney, in common with Montagu and Pennant, con- 



