,206 COLYMBIDiF.. 



leiigtli. The shooter, on reaching home, hung it up by the legs 

 near the ceihng of liis room, and after it liad been there for some 

 time, was much startled, amid the silence of the place, by one her- 

 ring after another gradually dropping from the throat of the bird 

 upon the floor. Two birds killed in Larne Lough, in February, 

 some years previously, were said to contain "sprats;" one of 

 them three small fish, and the other six large ones, of which three 

 lay close together in its oesophagus. 



On the 13th of April (1847), a number of these birds were 

 seen in Dublin Bay, three of which were in adult summer plum- 

 age."^ So late as the 2Gth of May (1838), I had once the op- 

 portunity of examining a fresh specimen of this diver, purchased 

 by Mr. R. Ball in Dublin : the notes made upon it are- — 



Length (total) 



of bill above 



■ to rictus 



ill. 



liu. 



24 



6 



2 



3 



3 







10 



7i 



2 



8 



3 



9 



■ wing fi'oiu carpus ..... 



tarsus ....... 



outer toe and nail ..... 



The throat is only a little tinged with chestnut; bill greyish, 

 varied with a dusky hue ; irides liver-coloured — those of the living 

 specimen already mentioned were set down as approximating 

 the " arterial blood-red " more nearly than any other shade in 

 Syme^s 'Nomenclature of Colours,' but as being rather of a 

 morone (brownish-crimson) hue. 



This species is obtained all round the coast. Mr. J. V. Stewart, 

 in his ' Birds, &c., of Donegal,' remarks : — " The speckled diver 

 is very common, but the red-throated diver occurs rarely." 

 This is of general application. The s])ecies is noticed by my cor- 

 respondents as being " common " in its immature state, on the 

 coasts of Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, and Galway. 

 Mr. E.. Davis, jun., of Clonmel, possesses a young bird procured 

 inland, near Cahir, by a countryman, who knocked it down with a 

 walking-stick as it flew low over a field. 



* Mr. Darrairh. 



