324 COL YM BIDE. 



Northern Diver is very frequent in the Frith of Forth, and 

 there I have never been able either to make up with, or cause 

 one to fly from the sea. 1 have pursued this bird in a New- 

 haven fishing-boat, with four sturdy rowers, and, notwith- 

 standing it was kept ahnost constantly under water by firing 

 as soon as it appeared, the boat could not succeed in making 

 one yard upon it. They are sometimes caught in the herring- 

 nets, and at set lines, when diving." Their voice is loud 

 and plaintive, varied occasionally from a high note to a deep 

 croak. 



Mr. W. Thompson, of Belfast, says, the Northern Diver 

 is a constant visiter to Ireland in winter, and it is on the 

 coast at that season of the year that these birds are prin- 

 cipally seen ; but Dr. Fleming mentions having seen one 

 of this species off the coast of Waterford, in the month of 

 July, 1816. Mr. Eyton has noticed its appearance in North 

 Wales; and Mr. Dillwyn has recorded the occurrence of 

 this species in the vicinity of Swansea ; they are not unusual 

 also in winter on the coasts of Cornwall, Devon, and Dorset, 

 in the south, and off the coasts of Kent and Essex on the 

 east. From Suffolk to Northumberland young birds are 

 common in winter, but old birds are rare, and all very dif- 

 ficult to obtain. 



Mr. Hcysham has recorded the capture of young birds in 

 winter in Cumberland, on the rivers near the Solway, and 

 in January, 1835, one was killed on Talkin Tarn, near 

 Brampton. In his remarks on the Zoology of the Outer 

 Hebrides, Mr. J. Macgillivray mentions that the Northern 

 Diver w^as plentiful until the beginning of June, when they 

 all disappeared. In Sutherlandshire, Mr. Selby says, " that 

 a single pair was seen in the Bay of Balnikiel, mouth of the 

 Durness Frith, both adult birds, and in perfect summer 

 plumage. It is probable that they had their nest upon one 

 of the numerous islets that abound in the bav." 



