536 



COLYMBIDif). 



any of the above birds may be in this mode of progression, 

 the true divers surpass them immeasurably. First among 

 these in size and dignity is the Great Northern Diver, a 

 native of high latitudes in both hemispheres, never perhaps 

 coming farther south than the Faroe Islands for breeding 

 purposes, and visiting our waters only during winter.* 



THE GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. 



The Northern Diver, or Imber, appears to be tolerably 

 frequent in Scotland, where it prefers salt-water lochs and 



* Mr. Yurrell, vol. iii. p. 426, quotes Sir Thomas Browne as an 

 authority for the fact that Divei'S formerly bred in the Bi'oads of 

 Norfolk. A careful examination of that author will show, however, 

 that Sir Thomas Browne had seen only a single specimen of the 

 Northern Diver, his "Divers," or "Dive-fowl," being the Crested 

 and Lesser Grebes, &c., which, as we have seen above, continue to 

 breed iu the Broads. 



