DIVER. 



293 



guillemots have some differences of habit, we shall 

 restrict this article to the divers properly so called. 



Their characters are : the bill of moderate dimen- 

 sions, straight, compressed, and very sharp at the 

 point ; the nostrils at the base, lateral, oblong, and 

 half closed by a membrane ; the legs placed far be- 

 hind, with the tarsi compressed or flattened sideways ; 

 three front toes very long, and webbed to their points, 

 and the hind toes short and united to the inner toe 

 by a rudimental web. The legs are articulated very 

 far backwards and wide of each other, so that though 

 they act powerfully in the water they are very ill 

 adapted for walking on land ; and when the birds 

 attempt this, they are obliged to carry their bodies in 

 nearly a vertical position, and roll them along with 

 their steps, which are both short and awkward. The 

 wings aie short, but remarkably close in their feather- 

 ing ; and the tail is also very short and rounded. 

 The form of the body is long and flat, the breadth 

 being greater than the depth ; and the head and neck 

 are comparatively slender, the former gradually fining 

 off into the strong and sharp bill, which answers 

 equally for seizing the prey or transfixing it by a 

 thrust. The plumage over their whole bodies is re- 

 markably close and compact, and how long soever 

 they remain in the water they are never wetted. 

 They spend the greater part of their time in the water 

 unless when they have nests ; and as they are very 

 energetic in their motions, they are very voracious in 

 their eating. They are also very miscellaneous feeders, 

 capturing fish, small marine animals, and not refusing 

 vegetable food if it comes in their way. Their sum- 

 mer quarters are chiefly in the north, where they 

 form their nests upon small islands, or projecting 

 headlands where they are subject to be but little dis- 

 turbed. Their eggs are usually only two in number, 

 and as is the case with the greater number of sea 

 birds they make no formal nest. It is a fact worth 

 attending to, as showing the difference between de- 

 pending on the land and depending on the sea, that 

 the eggs of land birds are, generally speaking, much 

 more numerous than those of sea birds, while the sea 

 birds themselves are much more numerous than land 

 birds. Sea birds indeed, though they have at all 

 times considerable labour in the finding of their food, 

 have yet plenty of it at most seasons ; and besides, 

 they are exempted from many of the casualties which 

 land birds have to suffer ; and not the least of these 

 are the attacks of beasts and birds of prey. From 

 both of these the sea birds are comparatively free, 

 and perhaps they owe some part of their safety to 

 the unpalatableness of their flesh ; for many of them 

 are so rank that it is doubtful whether even a starved 

 raven, the least dainty perhaps of animals, would 

 condescend to make a meal of some of them ; and as 

 for the sea eagles and ospreys, they are more partial 

 to a fish dinner. 



In the divers, the sexes do not differ greatly in 

 appearance ; but the young differ so much from the 

 old birds that they have been formed into separate 

 species ; and not only this, but as the young require 

 three years before they assume the proper plumage 

 of maturity, and as they continue growing all this 

 time, one species has sometimes been multiplied into 

 four, by giving separate specific accounts of birds of 

 one year, birds of two years, birds of three years, and 

 birds in their plumage of maturity. We shall notice 

 one or two of the leading species. 



THE GREAT NORTHERN DIVER C.glacialis. This 



is a very large species, and one which attracts a good 

 deal of attention. Its bill is upwards of four inches 

 in length, with a strong ridge or keel above the nos- 

 trils, and with the under mandible deepest in the 

 middle, a form which gives much stiffness and power 

 to that part of the organ. The size is subject to 

 considerable variation ; but the largest are from two 

 feet and a half to three feet in the length of the body, 

 and from four feet and a half to five feet in the stretch 

 of the wing's ; and when they are of this size, and fat, 

 they weigh from twelve to fifteen pounds. The head 

 and neck are black, but the neck is surrounded by 

 two white collars freckled with black, the upper part 

 is black powdered with white spots, and the under 

 part white. In winter those birds frequent the north- 

 ern parts of both continents ; but they breed in the 

 marshes, or the fresh water pools, and not on the 

 rocks. We believe few of them nestle on the main 

 land, even in the northernmost part of Scotland ; but 

 they are by no means rare in the western islands and 

 the Orkneys, and they are met with in Norway, 

 Sweden, and the north of Europe generally, and also 

 in Iceland and Greenland, and in fact in all the coun- 

 tries joining the Arctic Seas. In their breeding 

 places they love retirement, and their nests are 

 usually concealed among reeds or other tall aquatic 

 herbage. Their eggs bear some resemblance to those 

 of the goose, only they are very slightly spotted with 

 black. 



The Great Northern Diver. 



To capture the eggs of the great diver, or the young 

 birds, if the mother is near, is a matter of some hazard, 

 just as the finding of the nest and getting at it are 

 matters of some difficulty. It should seem that, in 

 placing the nest, inaccessible ground, as well as con- 

 cealment, were the object of these birds ; for they are 

 generally in places where they can neither be reached 

 in boats nor on foot ; and if they are reached, and the 

 old bird is near, she makes a very determined, and at 

 the same time, a very formidable resistance. Her bill 



