COLYMBID^. 543 



According to Meyer's plate, the eggs are olive- 

 brown, thinly speckled with much darker brown. 



EEDTHROATED DIVER, Colymbas septentrionalis. 

 I am afraid I cannot record more than one speci- 

 men of the Kedthroated Diver as having occurred 

 in Somersetshire, and that a dead one : it was picked 

 up quite fresh close by a small pond at Bishop's 

 Hull, near Taunton, on the 29th of March, 1868, 

 and brought to Mr. Bidgood, the curator of the 

 Museum, who stuffed it, and has it now in his own 

 collection : it must have been passing over the land 

 from one channel to the other, either to avoid bad 

 weather and a lee-shore or else on the commence- 

 ment of its migratory journey, and probably from 

 weariness pitched on the land, from which it was 

 unable to rise again ; nor could it in all probability 

 make its way on foot to the small pond it was near, 

 which might have given it a chance of recovery, and 

 perhaps a feed of fish, if it could have reached it. 



This bird is much more common on both coasts 

 of Devon, where it is called the " Lune," " Loon" or 

 " Sprat Loon," and sometimes the " Speckled Diver." 

 It appears rather odd that neither this bird nor the 

 Great Northern Diver frequent our part of the 

 Bristol Channel, as they are not uncommon on the 

 north coast of Devon and on the other side off 

 Swansea probably they stop short at the muddy 

 water ; certainly it would occasionally rather puzzle 

 them to see their prey in some parts of our channel, 



3 A2 



