382 BRITISH BIRDS. 



scapulars: the feathers on the sides of the breast 

 are like those on the sides of the neck; the upper 

 parts of the plumage are glossy black, barred on 

 the shoulders and scapulars with oblong square 

 white spots; the wing coverts are sprinkled over 

 with smaller roundish ones, the under parts are 

 white; quills dusky; tail black; legs dark, and 

 reddish on the inside. 



The Black-throated Diver is found in the arctic 

 regions, and visits England during the winter 

 months. It has the same disagreeable cries which, 

 in both kinds, are believed by the natives of Nor- 

 way, the Orkney Isles, &c., to forbode heavy rains 

 or bad weather. Their skins are dressed, and 

 made into caps, hoods, &c., and are much esteemed 

 as a covering for the head and breast in the 

 rigorous climates in which these birds are found, 

 the great thickness of the feathers rendering them 

 very fit for that purpose. 



A bird supposed to be of this species, was 

 caught in the month of March, in a pool near 

 Dukesfield, Northumberland, and presented to the 

 author, by Mr. Thomas Crawhall: it wanted the 

 black patch on the throat; its tail was tipped with 

 white, and its legs were marked like those of the 

 immature Red-throated Diver. It measured two 

 feet two inches from the bill to the tail.* 



* We have to acknowledge our obligation to Mr. Benjamin 

 Leadbeater, for the loan of a dried skin of this prettily marked 

 bird, satisfied that he has done all in his power to furnish speci- 

 mens (in this and other instances) enabling us to make correct 

 likenesses; although the pencil might be said to be itching for a 

 single peep at a living subject of this interesting depredator on the 

 finny tribes. 



