404 DIVERS. 



by Dr. Richardson from the dreary coast of Melville Island, in 

 the latitude of 75° and 76°, in August, where these birds were 

 seen by thousands. This is probably almost the last bird ob- 

 served within the desolate and glacial boundaries of the earth. 

 In Greenland and Spitzbergen Dovekies congregate in great 

 flocks, and in the depth of winter, watching the motion of the 

 ice in the offing when it is broken up by storms, they crowd by 

 thousands into every opening fissure or flaw, in order to snatch 

 up the marine productions on which they subsist. Mr. Audu- 

 bon found a few individuals breeding on the coast of Labrador. 

 In Newfoundland this species is called the Ice Bird, being the 

 sure harbinger of severe weather, as it seldom proceeds far from 

 its inclement natal regions, except when accidentally driven to 

 shore by storms. In the United States its appearance is always 

 solitary, being a mere wanderer, as it is also along the milder 

 coasts of Europe. The uniform predilection of these birds 

 is for the hyperboreal regions of their nativity, and they even 

 fatten in storms when not overwhelmed by their fury, as at 

 these times the small Crustacea and marine insects on which 

 they feed are cast up and brought to the surface in greater 

 abundance. At times they appear to fly well, as appears by 

 their extensive accidental migrations, they having sometimes 

 been met with considerably inland. The water, however, is 

 their more natural element ; they dive with great facility, and 

 are often observed dipping their bills into the water, as if 

 drinking. 



Those individuals which have been obtained in this vicinity, 

 usually in the depth of winter, have sometimes been found in 

 Fresh Pond, so lean and exhausted, by buffeting weather and 

 fatigue, as to allow themselves to be quietly taken up by the 

 hand. 



Like other species of the genus, and the family generally, 

 associated with the Razor-bills, they seek out for their breed- 

 ing-places the most inaccessible impending cliffs which project 

 into the ocean, and in their clefts, without any artificial nest, 

 deposit their single egg, which is of a pale bluish-green, com- 

 monly without spots, but sometimes scattered with a few smaU 



