CLASSIFIED NOTES 557 



THE DIVERS 1 



[OHDKK: ('<>lyiii!>if<>i-/i*. SUBORDER: Gavice, FAMILY: 



WHITEBILLED-DIVER \(ii'i.ri,t <t</,nn;i (Gray); Coli'iinlm* <i,l<iw; Gray. Yellowbilled- 

 diver]. 



1. Description. Diners from the great northern-diver (C. ylucudis) (see vol. iv. p. 435) by 

 its much stouter and distinctly upturned beak, which is of a yellowish horn colour, not black as 

 the first-named species. The sexes are alike in coloration, but the female is smaller. Length 

 32 in. [813 mm.]. The adult in summer plumage has the upper parts deep glossy greenish 

 black ; feathers of the upper back and mantle with a square white patch on either web near the 

 extremity; scapulars similarly marked, but the white patches are four times the size; rump 

 spotted with white ; head and neck uniform greenish black ; throat and fore-neck deep 

 glossy bluish black : on the lower throat and on each side of the neck are patches of white 

 heavily streaked with black ; remainder of the under parts and under surface of wings pure 

 white. Adult male and female in non-breeding plumage similar to the great northern-diver 

 (see page 435), but the bill is yellowish horn colour ; upper parts brownish black; feathers of 

 the back margined with greyish white ; under parts pure white, [w. p. p. and T. w.] 



2. Distribution. An Arctic species, which breeds in the Old World east of the Kara Sea 

 and also in Arctic America. It probably nests on Novaya Zemlya, where specimens have been 

 obtained in July and August, and has been recorded from Kolguev, the Kola Peninsula, and the 

 Ob valley. It breeds sparingly on the Taimyr Peninsula, and thence eastward to the Kolyma 

 delta, Chukchi Land, and Karntschatka, and according to Buturlin its southern breeding limit 

 in E. Siberia is about lat. 67 i. In North America it seems to be chiefly confined to the north- 

 west from Liverpool Bay on the east to the mouth of the Yukon on the west, and apparently 

 also on the islands in Bering Sea. At Franklin and Liverpool Bays it is plentiful in the breeding 

 season, and is said to be common also at Great Slave Lake. In winter it has been recorded 

 from the Caspian, Finland, Upper Austria, Italy, once in Sweden, and commonly along the 

 Norwegian coast, while there are about six records from Great Britain (Argyll, Northumber- 

 land, Yorks, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Hants). On the Pacific side it has been met with south to 

 Colorado and Japan. [F. c. R. J.] 



1 VoL IT. p. 435. 



VOL. IV. 4B 



