GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. 429 



COLYMBUS. Generic Characters. Bill about as long as the head ; 

 strong, straight, rather compressed, pointed ; upper mandible the longer 

 of the two, edges of both curving inwards. Nostrils basal, lateral, linear, 

 perforate, and partly closed by a membrane. Legs thin, the tarsi im- 

 pressed, placed very far backwards, and closely attached to the posterior 

 part of the body; toes three in front, united by membranes, one toe 

 behind, with a small membrane, articulated upon the tarsus ; the claws or 

 nails flat. Wings short, the first primary quill-feather the longest. Tail 

 short and rounded. 



OF the genus Colymbus there are three British species, 

 called Divers, par excellence, since they possess this power 

 in a most marked and perfect degree. Of these three, the 

 Northern Diver, frequently called also the Great Northern 

 Diver, is the largest in size, but, of the specimens procured, 

 young birds are much more common than old matured ex- 

 amples, and even the former are only obtained in winter. 

 Sir Thomas Browne says that in his time the Divers bred 

 on the broads of Norfolk, but this is not the case at the 

 present day, nor is it very certain that the Northern Diver 

 breeds in any part of the British Islands now, even in 

 Orkney or Shetland ; but what has been ascertained on 

 this subject will be adduced when enumerating the diffe- 

 rent localities in which it has been found. 



Except during their breeding-season all the divers live 

 chiefly at sea, where they obtain their living by following 

 or keeping in the vicinity of shoals of herrings, sprats, and 

 other species of fishes of moderate size, which they catch 

 seemingly with great ease and certainty while Diving, re- 

 maining under water a very considerable time without any 

 apparent inconvenience, and have been taken, while thus 

 submerged, by a baited hook. 



Montagu, in the Appendix to the Supplement to his 

 Ornithological Dictionary, says, " A Northern Diver taken 

 alive, was kept in a pond for some months, which gave us 

 an opportunity of attending to its manners. In a few days 

 it became extremely docile, would come at the call from 



