WHITE-BILLED DIVER. 405 



COLYMBUS ADAMSI. 

 WHITE-BILLED DIVER. 



Colymbus adamsii, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1859, p. 167 ; et auctorum plurimorum 



Sclater, (Baird, Breiver, $ Ridgway), &c. 



Colymbus torquatus, var. adamsii (Gray), Coues, Key N.-Amer. B. p. 334 (1872). 

 Uriuator adamsii (Gray), Stejneger, Proc, U.S. Nat. Mm. \. p. 43 (1882). 



The White-billed Diver was discovered about the year 1830 by Captain 

 James Clark Ross, who obtained three examples of this magnificent species 

 in Boothia, north of Hudson's Bay, during his cruise in the Arctic regions 

 in the 'Victory' (App. Sec. Voy. N.W. Pass. Nat. Hist. p. xlii). Un- 

 fortunately Sabine persuaded Captain Ross, against his own better judg- 

 ment, that the examples which he obtained were only very old males of 

 the Great Northern Diver. One of these examples was presented to 

 Audubon, and another of them may now be seen in the Museum of the 

 Literary and Philosophical Society in Hull. Twenty years afterwards it 

 was rediscovered by Mr. Adams, who obtained it in Alaska during the 

 cruise of the ' Enterprise/ This example was described by Gray, who 

 named it after its discoverer (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1859, p. 167). In 1852 a 

 British example was shot at Pakefield, on the Suffolk coast, in early spring, 

 and is now in the collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney (Sclater, Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1859, p. 206). A second British-killed example, also in winter plumage, is 

 in the Museum at Newcastle, and Mr. Hancock assures me that it was 

 shot on the Northumberland coast, although the precise date is unknown. 



The breeding-range of the White-billed Diver extends in the Arctic 

 regions from Hudson's Bay across Alaska and Eastern Siberia at least as 

 far as the valley of the Yenesay, and probably to Nova Zembla and the 

 Kanin peninsula (see footnote on p. 402). In winter it has been known 

 to stray as far south as Japan and the British Islands. 



The White-billed Diver appears to be a very maritime bird, and rarely 

 breeds far inland. Of its habits nothing whatever has been recorded, but 

 they probably do not differ much from those of the Great Northern Diver. 

 It appears to be very common in autumn in the islands of Norton Sound, 

 in Alaska ; and Adams says that the natives kill numbers of them, making 

 bags for their tools out of the skins. They are said not to arrive in Norton 

 Sound until the end of August. It was found breeding by MacFarlane 

 on the Anderson River, but its eggs do not appear to have been described. 



This species closely resembles the Great Northern Diver in the pattern 



