RED-THROATED DIVER. 449 



disappears in the winter, a darker hue only marking the 

 space occupied by the red. The eggs are of a dirty 

 greenish hue." The eggs of this bird in my own collection 

 measure two inches eight lines in length, by one inch ten 

 lines in breadth; of a dark greenish-brown when fresh 

 laid, rather thickly spotted with dark umber brown ; but 

 the ground colour changes a little and assumes a chestnut, 

 or dark reddish-brown tint when the egg has been long 

 incubated. 



It will thus be seen that in its habits and food this spe- 

 cies very closely resembles the other two already described. 

 It is found at the Faroe Islands, at Iceland, and in Green- 

 land. At the latter place Mr. Proctor saw small flocks of 

 twenty or twenty -five together, but not a White-throated 

 bird among them. Mr. Proctor suspected they were all 

 old males ; the females were then engaged in incubation. 

 The Red-throated Diver has been seen as far north as 

 Nova Zembla, and was found, as stated by Captain James 

 C. Ross, at Boothia, and in every part of the Arctic re- 

 gions visited by the expeditions of 1824 to 1832. 



Of this bird Mr. Audubon says, " The Red- throated 

 Diver is found, in tolerable abundance, on the sea-coast of 

 the United States during autumn, winter, and early spring, 

 from Maryland to the extremities of Maine. The younger 

 the birds the further south do they proceed to spend the 

 winter, and it is rare to see an old bird, of either sex, at 

 any season to the south of the Bay of Boston. Further 

 eastward they become more common, and they may be 

 said to be plentiful towards the entrance of the Bay of 

 Fundy, in the vicinity of which a few remain and breed. 

 I found some in December, January, and February, at 

 Boston, where I procured males, females, and young birds. 

 The old had the red patch on the throat darker than in 

 the breeding-season ; the delicate grey and white lines on 



VOL. III. G G 



