298 THE BLACK-THROATED DIVER 
and sprats, abound, or where fish even of a much larger size are 
numerous, the Northern Diver finds a rich harvest. Occasionally 
while thus engaged it meets its death by dashing into the herring 
nets, and there getting entangled. A fine specimen was recently 
shown to me in the island of Islay, which had been thus captured. 
Though it has never been known to take wing in attempting to 
elude pursuit, it is often seen flying with strength and rapidity, 
outstripping even the Grebe, which, in proportion to its size, is 
furnished with far larger wings than itself. 
The adult male, which is a very handsome bird, is of rare occur- 
rence, most of those which visit our shores being young birds. 
The nest is usually placed near the edge of a reedy lake or large 
river, having a well-beaten track leading to it from the water’s 
edge. This is formed by the bird in its clumsy effort to walk, a 
feat which it only performs on such occasions. The nest itself is 
bulky, and is formed of the vegetable substances found in the 
immediate vicinity, such as grasses and other herbaceous plants. 
It contains two, and sometimes three, eggs. The young are able 
to swim and dive very soon after they are hatched, and are fed 
for about a fortnight by their parents, at the expiration of which 
time they have to hunt for themselves. 
THE BLACK-THROATED DIVER 
COLYMBUS ARCTICUS 
Bill slightly curved upwards, with the middle of the lower mandible equal in 
width to the base, exceeding three inches in length; head ash-grey ; 
throat and front of the neck black, lustrous with violet and green; be- 
neath the throat a narrow band streaked with white and black; sides and 
front of the neck streaked with white and black; back black, with a 
longitudinal patch of white and black bars on the upper part ; scapulars 
with twelve or thirteen transverse white bars; bill dusky; iris brown ; 
feet dusky, with whitish membranes. Young birds have the head and back 
of the neck greyer and the upper plumage dark brown, edged with 
bluish ash; under plumage white; cheeks white, spotted with ash; 
upper mandible ash-grey, lower dull white. Length twenty-four to 
twenty-eight inches. Eggs dark olive-brown, spotted with purplish 
brown. 
Tuis Diver differs from the preceding species principally in being 
of inferior size. The predominant tints of the plumage are the 
same, and the habits of the two are so similar that a separate descrip- 
tion is unnecessary. The present species is, however, far less 
common, though it breeds in the Outer Hebrides and in Scot- 
land, where both eggs and young birds have been observed, and 
migrates southward in winter. It lays two eggs, near the edge 
of a fresh-water loch; and Mr. Selby observed that a visible 
track from the water to the eggs was made by the female, whose 
progress upon land is effected by shuffling along upon her belly, 
