DIVERS. 



539 



dimensions, and has the beak deeper. Resembling the guillemot in general colora- 

 tion, it differs in undergoing no seasonal change of plumage, and in the white area 

 occupying the whole of the sides of the head, while the throat is encircled by a 

 dark gorget. The beak has its 

 terminal portion carmine-red, behind 

 which are bands of slaty grey and 

 yellow, with a red one on the lower 

 mandible. With the annual moult 

 both the sheath of the basal half of 

 the beak and the warty red skin at 

 the angle of the mouth are shed. 

 In Europe the breeding -range of 

 this species extends from the North 

 Cape to the mouth of the Tagus, 

 while in winter the birds wander as 

 far south as Gibraltar, and thence 

 pass up the Mediterranean to the 

 Italian coasts. On the opposite side 

 of the Atlantic the winter range 

 reaches as far south as New York. 



Essentially oceanic in their 

 habits, puffins are gregarious at all 

 seasons, and fly rapidly somewhat 

 after the manner of ducks. Swim- 

 ming easily, and diving with the 

 expertness characteristic of the 

 family, they feed chiefly on the fry 

 of fish ; while their single egg is laid 

 either in a burrow in the ground or 



among the deep clefts of rocks. In colour, the egg is dull white, faintly spotted 

 with grey and brown ; and in the presence of these markings it forms one of many 

 exceptions to the general rule that eggs laid in holes are white. From this circum- 

 stance, Mr. Seebohm suggests that these birds have only taken to laying in 

 burrows comparatively recently ; the f aintness of the markings of the eggs being 

 perhaps indicative that they are in the course of disappearance. 



COMMON PUFFIN. 



THE DIVERS. 

 Family COLTMBID^. 



In common with the grebes, the divers (Colymbus) differ from the auks (and 

 thereby from all other birds) in that the crest of the tibia is prolonged upwards 

 to unite with the knee-cap, or patella, thus forming a spike-like projection at the 

 extremity of the bone, which must afford a most efficient lever for the muscles in 

 the act of swimming. The two families are further characterised by the saddle- 

 like form of the articular surfaces of the vertebrae of the back, by the presence of 



