GREAT NORTHERN-DIVER 443 



THE DIVERS 

 [F. C. R. JOURDAIN] 



The Divers form a very small family, which has been evolved on 

 parallel lines to the Grebes, but is much more restricted in its distri- 

 bution, being confined to the seas of the Holarctic region. Only five 

 species are known, all of which have been admitted to the British list 

 except the Pacific Diver, Colymbus pacificuv Lawrence. They are all 

 more or less pelagic in their habits, resorting to fresh-water lakes for 

 breeding purposes, and spending most of their lives in the water. 

 Their diving powers are extraordinary, and they are good swimmers, 

 but they can also fly rapidly, in spite of their small wings. The legs 

 are set extremely far back, so that as a rule they only progress on land 

 by shovelling the body along the ground on the breast, and only 

 rarely adopt the erect position ; and the only part of the leg which 

 has any power of free action is that below the tibio-tarsal joint, which 

 is, however, enormously powerful, the tibia being long and having a 

 keel on the anterior surface of the proximal end, to which the power- 

 ful muscles which move the tarsus and toes are attached. They are 

 good-sized birds, and extremely tenacious of life. They differ from 

 the Grebes in the possession of a tail, composed of eighteen to twenty 

 stiff" feathers, and normally lay only two eggs. 



GREAT NORTHERN-DIVER 



To the British Isles this splendid bird is only a winter visitor, the 

 few which have been met with during the summer being probably 

 non-breeding birds. It is the largest of three species which are 

 regularly seen off our coasts, and is sometimes met with in consider- 

 able numbers. During the winter months it lives entirely at sea, for 



