230 COLYMBID^E. 



plumage brown, with the middle of each feather 

 dusky : six of the lesser quills are tipped with white, 

 forming a line of that colour on the wings ; the rest 

 of the quills and tail brown. The young do not attain 

 their full plumage for some years. The trachea of 

 this species very closely resembles that of the pre- 

 ceding. 



Inhabits the frozen ocean of the north : is common 

 in the Orcades and other parts of Scotland, and in 

 profusion on the coasts of Greenland and Spitzbergen : 

 it is also plentiful about Hudson's Bay, where it breeds 

 on the sides of pools and rivers : the nest is made of 

 sticks and moss, lined with down plucked from its 

 own body. The eggs are five or six in number, and 

 whitish : the down is as much prized as that of the 

 former bird, and the skins are sown together by the 

 natives of Siberia and Kamtschatka, and used for 

 winter garments : its flesh is excellent, and the gib- 

 bous part of the beak is reckoned a delicacy. 



COLYMBID^E. 



1 HE second family of the Nataiores embraces 

 the Colymbi of Linne, which are characterised by a 

 smooth, straight, compressed, and acute beak, whose 

 edges are simple, or slightly denticulated, but without 

 laminated appendages : the nostrils are linear, and 

 partially closed by a membrane : the wings are very 



