1 62 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 



nuptial dress. In this plumage the throat is marked 

 with an elongated patch of chestnut ; the head, and 

 sides of the neck are ash -brown, the latter striped 

 with black and white, the general colour of the 

 upper plumage blackish -brown, sparingly spotted 

 with white, and the under parts are white. The 

 plumage, as in all the Divers, is remarkably dense 

 and compact, adapted in every way to the aquatic 

 habits of the bird. The Red-throated Diver is 

 a fairly frequent visitor, during autumn and winter, 

 off the English coasts, often entering bays and 

 the mouths of wide rivers. In summer, however, 

 it becomes much more local, retiring then to haunts 

 in Scotland, especially in the Hebrides and along 

 the wild and little populated western districts, from 

 the Clyde northwards to the Shetlands. Outside 

 our limits, this Diver has a very wide distribution, 

 occupying in summer the Arctic and north temperate 

 regions of Europe, Asia, and America ; in winter 

 migrating southwards for a thousand miles or more. 

 The Red-throated Diver is certainly the most gre- 

 garious species, and in winter may not unfrequently 

 be seen in gatherings of varying size. In connection 

 with this trait, mention may be made of the extra- 

 ordinary numbers of this bird that, on the 2nd and 

 3rd of December 1879, passed Heligoland. The 

 movement was not strictly a migratory one, but 

 a grand flight of storm -driven, frozen -out birds, 

 seeking more congenial haunts. Gatke tells us 

 that during this visitation, there was about thirteen 



