388. BIRDS OP TUNISIA 



Order PYGOPODES. 



Family COLYMBID^. 

 COLYMBUS SEPTENTRIONALIS, Linnaeus. 

 EED-THROATED DIVEE. 



Colymbus septentrionalis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 220 (1766) ; Loche, 

 E.cpl. Sci. Ahj. Ois. ii, p. 217 (1867) ; Kocniy, J.f. 0. 1888, p. 297 ; id. 

 J. /. 0. 1893, p. 104; Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvi, 

 p. 487. 



Description. — Adult female, spring, from Italy. 



Forehead, forepart of crown, chin, sides of the head and neck bluish- 

 grey ; hindpart of crown and nape black, striated with white ; remainder 

 of upper-parts dark brown ; middle of throat with a long triangular patch 

 rusty-red ; remainder of underparts silky white, striped on the flanks with 

 greyish-black. 



Iris hazel ; bill blackish above and reddish below ; feet blackish on the 

 outer part and grey on the inner part. 



Total length 23 inches, wing 10-75, culmen 2-25, tarsus 3. 



Sexes alike. 



Although there appears to be no actual record of tbe occurrence of 

 this species in Tunisia, there can be little doubt that it occasionally 

 wanders to the coasts of the Regency in winter, as it does to tbe 

 Algerian shores and other adjacent parts of tbe Mediterranean. On 

 the Italian coasts it is not uncommon in some winters, and it has been 

 obtained, or observed, on the islands of Malta and Gozo. Examples 

 from Algeria are preserved in the Paris and Milan Museums. 



During the summer this Diver is generally distributed throughout 

 the northern portions of Europe, Asia and America, and in winter 

 it migrates southward to North Africa, the Caspian and Black Seas, 

 Japan and Chma in the Palaearctic region, and to Maryland in 

 America. 



Like others of the genus tbe present species lives almost entirely 

 in the water, frequenting lakes, rivers and the seashore, and swim- 



