420 Synopsis of the Birds 



glossy. Colors above remarkably bright for this Family, 

 beneath white. 



Live by pairs or small parties : keep during winter at sea, 



in summer on fresh water. Travel principally by water, very 



seldom employing the power of flying, which they possess in 



no inconsiderable degree : fly only in breeding time, or when 



leading their young to the sea, then high and rapidly. Dive 



to the bottom of the deepest rivers with noise, and motion of 



their wings, but not springing in the water, in paddling move 



their feet diagonally : dive instantaneously at the flash of a 



gun, and avoid the shot. When compelled to walk, use their 



wings against the ground. Feed principally on fishes, which 



they catch under water and devour on the surface ; also on 



small aquatic animals and plants. Breed near fresh water, 



generally in some islet : nest of dry aquatic weeds : eggs 



2 — 4, elongated. Young follow the mother, plunging into 



water when the nest is disturbed. Voice shrill, acute, terrific. 



Inhabit the northern hemisphere, retiring in summer to the 



highest northern latitndes. Species five, wantonly multiplied. 



368. Colymbus GLAciALis, L. Bill more than four and a 

 quarter inches long; upper mandible straight; lower wider 

 in the middle, channelled beneath, recurved : tail of twenty 

 feathers. 



Adult black, speckled with white, beneath white; head 

 and neck glossy black ; an interrupted collar and gular band, 

 white. 



Young wholly brownish, beneath white. 



Great Northern Diver or Loon, Colymbus glacialis, Wils. 

 Am. Orn. ix. pi. 74. fig. 3. 



Inhabits the north of both continents : common of all ages, 

 during winter, in the middle states. 



S69. Colymbus arcticus, L. Bill more than three and a half 

 inches long ; upper mandible slightly curved ; lower not 

 wider in the middle than at base, not channelled beneath ; 

 tail of eighteen feathers. 



