158 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 



composed of fish. During the non-breeding 

 season Divers are not particularly noisy birds, but 

 at their nesting-places the cries they utter are both 

 loud and startling, described by some listeners as 

 similar to the screams of tortured children ; as 

 shrieks of maddened laughter, or as weird and 

 melancholy howls by others. 



It is a somewhat remarkable fact that the Great 

 Northern Diver breeds nowhere in Europe, except 

 on Iceland. It is an American species, and nests 

 from Greenland westwards to Alaska, south of the 

 Arctic circle to the more northern of the United 

 States. It reaches its breeding-grounds in pairs 

 towards the end of May, as soon as the northern 

 waters are free from ice. Its favourite nesting 

 places are secluded tarns and lakes, and an island 

 is always selected if possible, doubtless from 

 motives of security. The nest always made upon 

 the ground varies a good deal in size, according 

 to the local requirements. On wet marshy ground 

 it is large, and composed of a heap of half rotten 

 sedges, rushes, reeds, and such like vegetation, 

 lined with dry bits of broken reed and withered 

 grass. On drier and barer situations it is little 

 more than a hollow in the sand or hard ground, 

 with, perhaps, a few bits of dry grass for lining. 

 The birds are very alert and watchful whilst nesting, 

 as if fully conscious of their comparative difficulty 

 in escaping from danger on the land. One bird is 

 generally on the look out whilst the other sits, and 



