454 THE DIVING BIRDS — PYGOPODES. 



near Grinnell Bay. He was informed by Governor Fencker that it is not found in 

 North Greenland. Only a single individual is known to have been taken so far 

 south as Point Lepreau, in the Bay of Fundy. 



The Messrs. Goclman met with this species in Norway, but did not regard it as 

 common there. They found one nest on a small island close to the shore of an inland 

 lake. Mr. Wheelwright states that it breeds commonly all over Scandinavia from 

 the north of Scania to far up into Lapland and Finland, but principally in the 

 interior of those regions. Sommerfeldt mentions that every winter the Black-throated 

 Divers are seen off the north coast in Varanger Fiord. They are met with also on 

 the Bohus-liin coast all through the year. 



This bird was found in the Barrens (Tundras) of Northern Siberia by Middendorff ; 

 and Von Heuglin, while he did not meet with it about Nova Zembla, states that he 

 saw examples not infrequently, in pairs, in Jugor Straits and the Kara Sea. 



Mr. H. Whitely found it common in the harbor of Hakodadi, Japan ; it was very 

 shy and difficult of approach. 



Audubon speaks of having found the young of this species scattered over the 

 United States as far as Texas ; but as this species is not now found anywhere, and is 

 unknown within our limits, we naturally infer that he was mistaken, and that he 

 must have confounded with it immature birds of another species. He certainly was 

 in error in quoting Mr. Townsend as including it in his List of Birds found on the 

 Columbia, in which list it is not given. Audubon met with a few pairs of these birds 

 in Labrador, but procured no specimens, and did not find them nesting. This Loon 

 has almost as powerful a flight as the Great Northern Diver, and flies with even 

 greater velocity. 



In the British Islands the Black-throated Diver is given by Mr. Yarrell as being 

 the rarest of the Loons, occurring but seldom on the southern shores. Young birds 

 are the more common, and are occasionally brought to the London market. Birds 

 in the mature plumage have been taken in the summer, but very rarely. 



Mr. Selby states that the Black-throated Diver dives with the same ease and as 

 perseveringly as do the other species, and can remain long submerged, traversing 

 a great distance in its submarine flight; as was experienced by himself and Sir 

 William Jardine when in chase of one of these birds, in a light boat on Loch Awe. 

 Their utmost exertions could not bring the Loon within range, and they were often 

 foiled by its returning on its former track and reappearing in a direction contrary to 

 that in which it had seemed to dive. It was frequently lost for several minutes, and 

 would then come up a quarter of a mile ahead. Its progress under the water was 

 estimated to have been not less than eight miles an hour. He saw a pair toward the 

 end of June, but did not succeed in detecting their place of nidification. Their food 

 seemed to be fish, aquatic insects, and such other articles as they could procure on or 

 under the water. 



In Sutherlandshire Mr. Selby found this species on most of the lochs of the 

 interior. At the foot of Loch Shin he found its nest, or rather the two eggs on the 

 bare ground, on a small islet, removed about ten or twelve feet from the water's edge. 

 The female was in the act of incubation, sitting horizontally, and not in upright posi- 

 tion on the eggs. When shot at she immediately dived off to her mate, who was at 

 a short distance. His pursuit of them was quite ineffectual. Their submersion con- 

 tinued two minutes at a time. They came up fully a quarter of a mile distant from 

 the spot where they went down; and where they would reappear it was impossible 

 to calculate. In no instance did they attempt to escape by taking wing. A visible 

 track from the water to the eggs was made by the female, whose progress upon the 



