GREAT NORTHERN DIVER.— Coft/mbiis glacUlis. 



It flies well, but, like most diving birds, walks badly. The food of the Smew consists of 

 fish, small cmstaceaus, molluscs, and insects, wliich it obtains under the surface as easUy 

 as above it. The eggs of this species are warm buff in colour, and they are generally 

 eight or ten in number. 



The head, chin, and neck of the adult male are white. At the base of the bill at each 

 side there is a black patch which surrounds the eye, and over the back of the head runs 

 a green streak forming a kind of crest with some white elongated feathers. The back is 

 black, and the tail grey, the wings are black and white, and the under surface pure white, 

 pencilled with grey on the flanks. The female has her plumage mostly reddish brown 

 and gi'ey. The length of the Smew is about seventeen inches, the female being three 

 inches shorter. 



Another species of the same genus is occasionally found iu England, the Hooded 

 Mekgansek {Mergus cuculUtus), remarkable for the pure white crest on the jetty black 

 head. It is a most active bird on the wing and in the water, diving with wonderful 

 rapidity, and is apt to rise suddenly in the air, and shoot off as if fired from a gun. 



The Eed-breasted jMeeganser {Mergus serrator) is not an uncommon species, and 

 sometimes comes far southwards, having been killed on the Thames, and even in 

 Devonshire. It is popularly known by the title of Sawbill. 



We now come to the family of Colymbidae, or Divers, several examples of which are 

 British birds. 



The Great Northern Diver is common on the northern coasts of the British Islands, 

 where it may be seen pursuing its arrowy course through and over the water, occasionally 

 2. • 3 b 



