268 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



of mentioning it here ; tho' not really kill'd in 

 Northamptonshire." Kibworth is within seven or 

 eight miles of onr frontier, and I have no w^ish to 

 poach upon Mr. Montagu Browne's territory, but I 

 do not find any mention of this occurrence on record 

 in his work' — ' The Vertebrate Animals of Leicester- 

 shire and Rutland.' 



I have met with this bird once in considerable 

 numbers in Weymouth Bay, in April 187G, and, so 

 far as my memory serves me, I saw one or two in 

 Plymouth Sound in May 1855. We found one very 

 fine adult bird in the harbour of Santander in 

 May 1876, and several immature birds in the same 

 locality in the winter of 1878. The old bird set all 

 our efforts to capture him from our rowing boats at 

 defiance and remained about the harbour till we left 

 Santander early in June, but with the aid of a steam- 

 launch we secured several of the younger birds on the 

 occasion of my second visit. I believe that there is 

 no absolute proof of this Diver having bred in any 

 part of Great Britain, although it has occasionally 

 been observed and captured in the summer months 

 on Scottish and Irish waters. It breeds on the shores 

 of most of the lakes in Iceland. On the autumnal 

 migration the Great Northern Diver visits our coasts 

 in considerable numbers and is said to occur 

 occasionally off Madeira. In my own experience 

 it is by no means frequent in the Mediterranean, 

 although it does occasionally occur. It is recorded 

 as breeding commonly in N, America from about 

 70° N. latitude down to Connecticut. I met with 

 a few of this species during the winter months on 

 the Lake of Geneva, and was informed that it occurs 

 at that season upon all the larger lakes of Switzerland. 



