COLYMBIDJE ; DIVERS, GREBES. 



513 



assume an erect position when standing. The bill is compressed 

 at the tip, and pointed. Some of them even suspend their nests 

 on rushes at the surface of the water. The true Divers have 



FIG. 295. GREAT NORTHERN DIVEK. 



the feet large, all the front toes entirely webbed, and the hind 

 toe connected to the outer membrane of the inner one. They 

 are found in the northern regions ; visiting the lakes of the 

 interior during the breeding season. They are rapid and power- 

 ful divers ; feeding on fish, and sometimes on vegetables. The 

 Grebes have their toes flattened, separate, but broadly fringed at 

 their edges by a firm membrane ; this division of the webbed 

 foot probably assists its action, in waters where there is a 

 good deal of vegetation. The quickness with which they dive 

 is extremely remarkable ; they have been seen to plunge with 

 sufficient rapidity to avoid the shot of a fowling-piece, by whose 



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