( 3845 ) 
BLACK-THROATED DIVER. 
*CoLymMBus ArcTicus, LINN. 
PLATE CCCXLVI. Mate, Femae, anp Youne. 
One of the most remarkable circumstances relative to this beauti- 
ful bird, which is intermediate between the Red-throated Diver and 
the Loon, is the extraordinary extent to which the wanderings of the 
young are carried in autumn and winter. It breeds in the remote re- 
gions of the north, from which many of the old birds, it would seem, 
do not remove far, while the young, as soon as they are able to travel, 
take to wing and disperse, spreading not only over the greater part of 
the United States, but beyond their south-western limits. In the 
Texas I saw individuals of this species as late as the middle of April 
1837 ; and I find it enumerated in a list of the birds observed by my 
young friend Dr J. K. Townsend on the Columbia River, where he 
also met with Oolymbus glacialis. Its ramblings over a considerable 
portion of northern and eastern Europe have equally been noted, and 
it has been found breeding in the extreme north of Scotland. 
For many years I knew the young of this bird only by the name 
“ Imber Diver,” applied by Bewicx to that of another species, and 
now have pleasure in looking upon a drawing of mine, made about 
thirty years ago, with that appellation attached to it. Very few old 
birds in full plumage have been procured within the limits of the United 
States, and none in as far as I know, farther south than the Capes of 
Delaware. 
No sooner has the foliage of the trees that border our western wa- 
ters begun to drop and float on the gentle current of the fair Ohio, than 
the Black-throated Diver makes its appearance there, moving slowly 
with the stream. The Mississippi, Missouri, and their tributaries, are 
at the same period supplied with these birds. Along our eastern and 
southern shores they are seen from the end of autumn until spring. 
Whilst in Labrador, I saw a few pairs courting on wing, much in 
the manner of the Red-throated Diver; but all our exertions failed to 
procure any of the nests, which I therefore think must have been placed 
farther inland than those of the Loon or Red-throated Diver. I ob- 
