512 COLYMBID^ 



Voice. The harsh, discordant hark is generally heard 

 when the bird is on the wing. It resembles the syllables 

 kark-kark, shortening sometimes into kdk-kak-kdk. 



Food. Fish are consumed in large quantities, the bird 

 often gorging itself with sprats, flat-fish; eels, &c. Fresh- 

 water fish are taken, but those of the sea are preferred, 

 and even when nesting on inland lakes at some distance 

 from the coast, the young are fed upon sea-fish conveyed by 

 their parents at frequent intervals during the day. 



Nest. The nesting-sites are rather similar to those of 

 the Black-throated Diver, but are frequently situated in 

 wilder localities. A favourite resort is the margin of a 

 mountain-tarn, sometimes elevated many hundred feet above 

 the sea-level. Thus in Ireland a nesting-site described by 

 Mr. Ussher was beside a small mountain-lake, the most 

 elevated of a series, and more than three miles from the 

 nearest bay. The nest was scraped in the peaty surface of 

 a bank, on the verge of the open water, on swampy ground 

 amid flowering bog-bean. The birds flew to the sea to fish, 

 returning at night. When the female was hatching the male 

 w r as generally on the lake. The nest is always very close 

 to the margin of the lake. " The sitting bird lies flat down 

 on the eggs, and, when disturbed, glides into the water, and 

 at first swims very low ; then, bending the head and neck 

 forwards, it disappears with a gentle plunge which hardly 

 leaves a ripple ; but I have noticed that if my stay near the 

 nest was prolonged, the bird would swim high, snapping 

 the mandibles and turning the head with a jerking action, 

 while occasionally stopping to drink " (Saunders, Man. 

 Brit, Birds, 2nd Edit., p. 716). 



The eggs, two in number, are greenish-brown, spotted 

 with umber. They are laid at the end of May or during 

 the first week in June. 



In Great Britain this species nests from Argyll north- 

 ward to the Shetlands and Orkneys, and westward to the 

 Hebuidean Islands. The breeding- haunt in co. Donegal 

 appears to be the only one in Ireland. 



Geographical distribution. Abroad, it breeds in Arctic 

 and Sub-arctic Europe, Asia, and America, having a cir- 

 cumpolar distribution. In autumn and winter it migrates 

 southward over Europe (visiting the Mediterranean, Black, 

 and Caspian Seas), Asia to China and Japan, and along both 

 sides of the American sea-board to about lat. 25 N. 



