258 THE DIVER. 



once saw an old one, basking in the middle of a large 

 sheet of water, with one or two young ones, appa- 

 rently not long hatched, swimming round her. By 

 the assistance of a telescope, the little downy Divers 

 might he seen, enjoying their new existence; at one 

 moment darting along the surface, and then scram- 

 bling on the mother's hack, who floated motionless 

 and continued to plume herself, while the brood 

 gambolled about her. One of the largest of this 

 genus, the Great Northern Diver (Colymbtis gla- 

 cialis)) may also be called a British bird, though but 

 a rare visitant, preferring the more remote shores of 

 the north, where it passes its existence . as far as 

 possible beyond the reach of men: not, however, 

 that it can escape the snare of the hunter, numbers 

 being taken by the persevering efforts of those who 

 know the value of their skins, which, when tanned 

 and dressed, make excellent caps and jackets. But 

 although the poor birds cannot avoid falling a prey 

 to their pursuers, they contrive so effectually to 

 seclude themselves from observation, during the 

 breeding-season, that, in the Orkneys, and other 

 northern islands which they frequent, the inhabitants 

 really believe that they make no nests at all, but, 

 never leaving the sea, hatch their eggs under water, 

 in a hole beneath the wing, prepared by nature for 

 that purpose, a belief, no doubt, encouraged by 

 their being seen, like our Crested Grebes, taking 

 their young upon their backs, or under their wings, 

 for protection. 



Rare as these birds are, they sometimes, either 

 by choice or stress of weather, wander from their 

 dreary northern abodes, and have been met with, 



