

NATATOEES. 423 



SECOND FAMILY. DIVERS. (Short- winged.) 

 Colymbidce, (Gr. xohvufio;, kolumbos, a diver.) 



These birds are more entirely aquatic than the Ducks, and 

 remarkable for their powers of diving, and the great length of 

 time which they can remain immersed. They have narrow, 

 straight, and sharp-pointed beaks ; the head is small ; the legs, 

 placed near the extremity of the body, are flattened sidewise, so 

 as to present a thin edge before and behind ; the toes are armed 

 with broad, flat nails. In one genus, Colymbus, including the 

 Loons, the toes are united by a membrane, and there is a 

 short tail; the two other genera, (including the Grebes.) have 

 the toes divided midway to the base, and bordered with white 

 oval membranes, and have no traces of a tail. Owing to the 

 position of their feet, these birds are poor walkers, though ex- 

 tremely powerful and fleet swimmers and divers. They have 

 short wings, and their ability to fly is consequently quite limited ; 

 but under the surface of the water, the wings are expanded and 

 employed as fins. The thread-like, or downy plumage, is re- 

 markably thick, and has a silvery gloss. The Divers' food 

 varies with the situations which they frequent. It consists of 

 fishes with their fry and spawn; crustaceans, water insects, &c., 

 and occasionally vegetable substances. The Grebes are widely 

 scattered over fresh waters ; the Loons are confined to the oceans 

 and coasts of temperate and arctic regions. These birds dive 

 so instantaneously, that it is difficult to shoot them, disappear- 

 ing, as they do, at the first flash of the gun, and not returning 

 to the surface within some two hundred yards, and then merely 

 to raise the head for a moment and again disappear. The stomach 

 of the Grebes, is generally found to contain a mass of their own 

 feathers. These are probably conyeyed thither in the bird's pro- 

 cess of oiling its plumage, or, as has been said, "making its 

 toilet." The largest, and finest species of Loon, is the GREAT 

 LOON or DIVER, Colymbus glacialis, (Plate X, fig. 9.) This bird 

 is thirty-two inches long, the neck and head are black, glossed 

 with purple or green ; their upper parts black, marked with white 

 spots, set in rows; the under parts pure white. The cry of the 

 Great Diver is melancholy in its tone, resembling the howling 

 of a wolf, and is said to portend rain. The flesh is dark, tough, 

 and unpalatable. The eggs are two or three in number, of a 

 deep olive color, spotted with brown, and about as large as those 

 of a Goose. 



The RED-THROATED LOON or SCAPE-GRACE, Colymbus septen- 

 18 



