738 THE GEEAT NOETHEEN DIVER 



dashing tlirough the air on strong pinions, but very seldom taking to the shore, where it 

 is quite at a disadvantage. 



Perhaps there is no bird which excels the Northern Diver in its subaqueous powers, 

 although the penguins and cormorants are equally notable in that respect. Its broad 

 webbed feet are set so very far back that the bird cannot walk properly, but tumbles and 

 scrambles along much after the fashion of a seal, pushing itself with its feet, and scraping 

 its breast on the ground. In the water, however, it is quite at its ease, and, like the seal, 

 no sooner reaches the familiar element, than it dives away at full speed, twisting and 

 turning under the surface as if in the exuberance of happy spirits. So swiftly can it 

 glide through the water that it can chase and capture the agile fish in their own element, 

 thus exhibiting another curious link in the interchanging capacities of various beings ; the 

 bats, for example, surpassing many birds in airy flight, the cursorial birds running faster 

 than most quadrupeds, the seals and others equalling the fish in their own watery domain, 

 and some of the fish, again, being able to pass for a considerable distance through 

 the air. 



To shoot this bird is a matter of no ordinary difficulty, and is best achieved by the 

 gunner concealing himself behind rocks near the water's edge, where the bird will often 

 come near enough for an effectual shot. As to fair chase, the capture of the Diver is 

 impossible, and to shoot it almost impracticable. Sir W. Jardine mentions that he chased 

 a Northern Diver for a considerable time in the Frith of Forth, and though rowed by four 

 strong men, he could not get near the active bird. The Eev. J. C. Atkinson corroborates 

 this and other similar narratives. "I have myself pursued the Great Northern Diver 

 (which was shot through the neck at the first discharge, and seriously weakened by the 

 wound, and the consequent loss of blood) for a lengthened space of time ; and though I 

 was assisted by a friend, armed like myself with a heavy flight gun, the bird dived so 

 quickly, and re-emerged at such a distance from the point of his disappearance, that it 

 was not until after we had fired twelve or fifteen shots at him, that we were able at last 

 to take him at such a disadvantage as to disable him for further exertion." 



Like many other diving birds, it is able to sink itself in the water, the head disappearing 

 after the body and neck. Young birds are more frequently found on our coasts than the 

 adult. The eggs of the Northern Diver are generally two in number, and of a dark 

 olive-brown, spotted sparingly with brown of another tone. They are laid upon the bare 

 ground, or on a rude nest of flattened herbage near water, and the mother-bird does not 

 sit, but lies flat on the eggs. If disturbed, she scrambles into the water and dives away, 

 cautiously keeping herself out of gunshot, and waiting until the danger is past. Should 

 she be driven to fight, her long beak is a dangerous weapon, and is darted at the foe with 

 great force and rapidity. 



The head of the adult Northern Diver is IJack, glossed witli green, and purple, and 

 the cheeks and back of the neck are black without the green gloss. Tlie back is black, 

 variegated with short white streaks, lengthening towards the breast, and the neck and 

 upper part of the breast are white spotted with black, and cinctured with two collars of 

 deep black. The breast and abdomen are white. The total length of the bird is not 

 quite three feet. The immature bird is greyish black above, each featlier being edged 

 with a lighter hue, and the under parts of the body are dull white. In some places this 

 bird is called the Loon. 



Two other species of Divers belong to the British Islands ; namely, the Black- 

 THEOATED DiVEE {Colymlms arcticus), notable for the bold alternate bars of black and 

 white which decorate the back and tertials, and the Eed-throated Divee (Coh/mbus 

 sejjtentrionalis), known by its smaller size and the red throat. On account of the havoc 

 which tliis Diver makes among the shoals of sprats, it is sometimes termed the 

 Sprat Loon. 



The sub-family of the Grebes is represented in England by several well-known species. 

 All these birds may be readily distinguished by the peculiar form of the foot, in which 

 each toe is lurnished with a flattened web, the whole foot looking something like a horse- 

 chestnut leaf with three lobes. 



