BLACK-THROATED DIVER. 137 
Mr. Selby says that he has known one remain under water 
for several minutes together, coming up at nearly a quarter 
of a mile from where it had gone down, and that at the 
rate, as he supposed, of not much under eight miles an hour. 
On the ground it can only shuffle along for a short distance. 
They feed on fish, frogs, water-insects, and portions of plants. 
The note of this bird is wild and of a melancholy sound, 
and is heard at a great distance. 
The nest is naturally placed close by the brink of the 
water. It is made of a few straws or stems of plants, placed 
in a hollow formed or increased by the bird for the purpose. 
The eggs of the Black-throated Diver, usually two in 
number, are laid on the bare earth, two or three yards from 
the water’s edge. They are of a dark yellowish olive brown 
colour, with darker or blackish spots. 
Male; length, about two feet four inches; bill, dark bluish 
black; it slightly turns upwards. Iris, red; forehead, dark 
grey; crown, neck on the back, and nape, rich light ash 
grey; the neck on its sides and lower part behind is streaked 
lengthwise with black and white lines, giving it a raised 
appearance; these marks are caused by white margins to the 
feathers, which otherwise are black. Chin, throat, and neck 
in front, rich dull black, the latter with a fine reflection of 
purple and green, observable when viewed in a side light, 
but crossed on the upper part by a collar of short striated 
black and white lines; breast, white, the sides waved with 
black streaks, the flanks dusky; back, nearly black with green 
reflections; on the upper part are two long patches of square 
white spots; spreading from near the base of each of these, 
on either side, descend the jong scapular and tertiary feathers, 
crossed, as presently mentioned, with fourteen or fifteen bars 
of black and white. 
The wings have the axillary plume black; greater and 
lesser wing coverts, black, with a few specks of white, the 
tips of the feathers having a triangular-shaped mark of that 
colour; primaries, dusky black; the tertiaries have a square 
patch of white on each side of the shaft, by which a series 
of bars is formed across. ‘Tail, nearly black, the sides greenish 
black; under tail coverts, dusky. Legs and toes, dark blackish 
brown in front, paler on the inside with a reddish tinge. 
Webs, pale dusky. 
This species experiences a partial moult in the spring, and 
