DIVERS, GREBES, AND CORMORANTS. 157 
land, perhaps never except during the breeding 
season. Its movements on shore are ungainly in 
the extreme, the legs being placed so far back that 
the bird can only push itself along in a crawling 
sort of a way; it is equally rarely seen in the air, 
and apparently only uses its wings to fly when 
performing its annual migrations. How the species 
still retains the function of flight at all seems 
almost a mystery, but perhaps the constant use of 
the wings in the water keeps them to a standard 
of efficiency. This Diver is one of the least 
gregarious, and save on passage is rarely met with 
in numbers greater than a pair. It seems to be the 
rule for odd pairs to take up their residence in 
certain spots during the breeding season ; after that 
period the bird is usually met with solitary, and the 
young individuals, unlike so many others that 
evince strong gregarious propensities, for the most 
part wander about alone. This Diver, like most 
big birds, is shy and wary, although I have 
repeatedly watched it from the cliffs in Tor Bay 
evincing little concern at my presence. As may be 
gathered from the foregoing remarks the Great 
Northern Diver is a proficient in the art of diving, 
and is said to be able to remain as long as eight 
minutes beneath the surface—a period of time 
which seems incredible. The depth to which it 
sometimes descends is also enormous—it has been 
captured in a net thirty fathoms from the surface. 
The food of this Diver is almost, if not absolutely, 
