THE RED-THROATED DIVER, 289 



habits are nearly the same as those of the former species, only 

 it perhaps is more abundant in one or another of its plumages. 



THE RED-THROATED DIVER (Colymbus septeutrionalis). 



A figure of this species, in the mature plumage, is given 

 on the plate opposite. It is the most handsome British bird 

 of the genus; only a little less in weight than the black- 

 throated, but more slender in proportion. The under part is 

 white in all the changes of its plumage. The upper part is 

 dusky the first year, becomes mottled in the second, and in 

 the third year, the red on the front of the neck appears. It 

 is, like the others, rather rare upon the southern shores, 

 though it sometimes makes its appearance in the estuary of 

 the Thames ; but it breeds in Orkney and Shetland, and also 

 in some of the western isles, much more plentifully than 

 either of the other species. The lovers of white bait may be 

 thankful that this bird comes rarely, and in the winter 

 season ; for it is a very bold, active, and successful fisher, 

 and, heedless of the fulminations from the Mansion-house, 

 the black looks of the Conservators of the river, or the 

 lachrymant palates (for spoiled palates weep like spoiled chil- 

 dren, and for similar reasons) of the high-tasted Ichthyophagi 

 of the metropolis, it would sadly thin the numbers of those 

 much-extolled fishes. 



Around the shores, and in the bays of Orkney and Shet- 

 land, these birds capture an incredible number of small 

 fishes ; and, true to the instinct of nature, in consequence of 

 which the wild animals feel changes of the weather before 

 any signs of change become apparent to the senses of man, 

 they scream exultingly in anticipation of that storm which 

 is to bring the fishes more within their power. To the 

 fisherman, accustomed as he is to heed all the appearances of 

 the sea and the sky, the discordant screams of the divers are 

 often the first admonitions of danger. 



VOL. II. U 



