512 



EIDER DUCK; MERGANSER. DIVERS. 



their covering of down have been taken away, the female 

 will again lay; and when she has nearly stripped herself of 

 down, the male affords some of his. The breeding-places of 

 this Bird are situated for the most part in the arctic regions ; 

 and it is only an accidental visitor to our southern coasts. The 

 shores of Iceland, Greenland, Lapland, Spitzbergen, and those of 

 Labrador, Hudson's, and Baffin's Bays are its chief resorts. 

 During the summer months, these Birds are often met with 

 floating in pairs, or solitary, at a considerable distance from land, 

 though usually in the neighbourhood of ice. The last division 

 of this family consists of the Mergansers or Gooseanders; which 



FIG. 294. MERGANSER. 



have narrow cylindrical bills, with the margin jagged like a saw, 

 and the tip armed with a hooked nail. They are inhabitants 

 of the arctic regions, breeding very far north in summer, and 

 migrating southwards in winter, though few, even then, 

 advance far into the temperate zone. Their food consists prin- 

 cipally of fish, which they take by rapid diving ; also of small 

 crabs and insects. They seem never to feed upon land ; and to 

 be incapable of digesting vegetable matter of any kind. 



456. The family of COLYMBID^:, or Divers, have short wings; 

 and the legs are placed so far back on the body, that they always 



