536 



COLYMBID^E. 



any of the above birds may be in this mode of progression, 

 the true divers surpass them immeasurably. First among 

 these in size and dignity is the Great Northern Diver, a 

 native of high latitudes in both hemispheres, never perhaps 

 coming farther south than the Faroe Islands for breeding 

 purposes, and visiting our waters only during winter.* 



THE GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. 



The Northern Diver, or Imber, appears to be tolerably 

 frequent in Scotland, where it prefers salt-water lochs and 



* Mr. Yarrell, vol. iii. p. 426, quotes Sir Thomas Browne as an 

 authority for the fact that Divers formerly bred in the Broads of 

 Norfolk. A careful examination of that author will show, however, 

 that Sir Thomas Browne had seen only a single specimen of the 

 Northern Diver, his "Divers," or " Dive-fowl," being the Crested 

 and Lesser Grebes, &c., which, as we have seen above, continue to 

 breed in the Broads. 



