200 colymbida;. 



Mr. 11. Ball, in meutioniiig to me that two fresh specimens of 

 this bird had been brought to him in Dublin on the 23rd of De- 

 cember, 1844, remarked, that in the throat of one were the body 

 (without the claws) of a large shore-crab {Carchius moenas), and 

 two razor-fish [Sulen sUiqita). The stomach of one of these divers, 

 killed near Holywood, Belfast Bay, that came under my own no- 

 tice, contained the bodies of two crabs, a Carcinus, and one of the 

 larger species of Fortanus, each of middle size. 



The great northern diver has already been incidentally alluded 

 to as occurring on various parts of the coast. It is a regular 

 Av inter visitant in the south, as w^ell as in the north. Two of my 

 correspondents mention immature birds as not uncommon every 

 winter on the coast of Waterford and Cork, though one adult 

 bird only had come under the notice of either of them there."^ 

 On the 24th of May, 1842, a female, in at least the next stage to 

 maturity, the back being quite perfect, and nearly all the dark neck- 

 collar likewise so, was shot off Dungarvan in the former county. 

 " It contained no eggs larger than snipe shot, except two, the 

 size of swan drop.^f At GlengarifF, Bantry Bay, they are some- 

 times seen until April; J about Tralee, three or four adult birds 

 have been obtained, one of which was captured in a lobster-pot§ : 

 — in the bay there, two, in the plumage of the imber, were seen 

 and one of them shot, late in the month of May 1850. || On the 

 Galway coast, about Eoundstone, they are considered rare.^ A 

 fine adult bird taken in the nets of E. J. Cooper, Esq., Markree 

 Castle, county Sligo, on the 4th of June, 1850, was sent to the 

 University Museum, Dublin. The species is generally dispersed 

 around the coast, though in much less numbers than the red- 

 throated diver. 



I ascertained, when at Islay, in January 1849, that the great 

 uortherji, as well as the red-tlu'oated diver, are regular winter 

 visitants : — I saw some of the latter species. 



* Dr. J. K. Harvey, June 1848. f Mr. R. Davis, jun. 



X Mr. G. Jackson. § Mr. R. Chute. 



ij Mr. Robert D. Fitzgerald, jun., Tralee. f Mr. W. M'CaUa. 



