154 BIRDS. 



FAMILY LX1V. COLYMBID^E. 



(The Loons.) 



Bill long, strong, tapering, acute, wholly hard; nostrils 

 linear. Head densely and evenly feathered, without ruffs 

 or naked spaces; eye large. Feet 4-toed, palmate; tar- 

 sus reticulate, strongly compressed. Wings comparatively 

 long and strong. Tail short, but well developed. Back 

 of adult with small spots; precocial. Genus one; species 

 three. Birds of large size, with strong powers of flight, 

 and pre-eminent in swimming and diving, but scarcely 

 able to walk; they are migratory, breeding northward, 

 but coming S. in winter; the voice is singularly sharp 

 and wild. 



/. COLYMBUS, Linnaeus. LOONS. 



= Eudytes, Illiger. 



1. C. torquatus, Briinn. GREAT NORTHERN LOON. 

 DIVER. Black; breast and below chiefly white; head 

 and neck iridescent, green and violet; a patch of white 

 streaks on each side of neck and on the throat; back 

 with many white spots; L. 36; W. 14; Ts. 3; B. 3, 

 Northern Hemisphere; whole U. S. in winter. (C. 

 glacialis, L.) 



2. C. arcticus, L. BLACK - THROATED DIVER. Similar, 

 but head and neck behind bluish or hoary gray; fore- 

 neck purplish black, with a crescent of white streaks; 

 L. 28; W. 12; B. 2. Northern hemisphere, not 

 common in U. S. 



3. C. septentrionalis, L. RED -THROATED DIVER. 

 Blackish, chiefly white below; head and neck mostly 

 bluish gray; throat with a large chestnut patch; L. 27; 

 W. 11; B, 2. Northern hemisphere. 



