432 COLYMBIDJE. 



sometimes using the wings under water. Though its wings 

 are short, the flight of the bird is strong and rapid, yet it 

 always resorts to diving to effect an escape. Sir William 

 Jardine says, " The Great Northern Diver is very frequent 

 in the Frith of Forth, and there I have never been able 

 either to make up with, or, cause one to fly from the sea. 

 I have pursued this bird in a Newhaven fishing-boat, with 

 four sturdy rowers, and notwithstanding it was kept 

 almost constantly under water by firing as soon as it 

 appeared, the boat could not succeed in making one yard 

 upon it. They are sometimes caught in the herring-nets, 

 and at set lines, when diving." Their voice is loud and 

 plaintive, varied occasionally from a high note to a deep 

 croak. 



Mr. W. Thompson, of Belfast, says, the Northern Diver 

 is a constant visitor to Ireland in winter, and it is on the 

 coast at that season of the year that these birds are princi- 

 pally seen ; but Dr. Fleming mentions having seen one of 

 this species off the coast of Waterford, in the month of 

 July, 1816. Mr. Eyton has noticed its appearance in 

 North Wales ; and Mr. Dillwyn has recorded the occur- 

 rence of this species in the vicinity of Swansea ; they are 

 not unusual also in winter on the coasts of Cornwall, 

 Devon, and Dorset, in the south, and off the coasts of Kent 

 and Essex on the east. From Suffolk to Northumberland 

 young birds are common in winter, but old birds are rare, 

 and all very difficult to obtain. 



In the winter of 1854, an adult Northern Diver unex- 

 pectedly made its appearance in the very middle of the 

 inland county of Wiltshire. It was first observed swim- 

 ming majestically to and fro on a pond at Spye Park. It 

 was afterwards caught in a ditch. 



Mr. Heysham has recorded the capture of young birds 

 in winter in Cumberland, on the rivers near the Sol way, 



