176 BRITISH BIRDS’ EGGS. 
Famity COLYMBIDZ. 
RED-THROATED DIVER. 
CoLYMBUS SEPTENTRIONALIS, Linn. 
Pl. XXVIIL, fig. 1. 
Geogr. distr.—Northern portions of Europe, Asia, and America in 
summer, ranging southwards to N. Africa, China, and Maryland to 
winter; in Great Britain it is resident and not uncommon, breeding in 
the north and wintering in the south. 
Food.—Frogs, fish, insects, and aquatic plants. 
Nest.—A small depression in the ground, lined with a few rushes 
and a little grass. 
Position of nest.—Neay the water’s edge, usually on small islands 
or the margins of inland lakes. 
Number of eggs.—2. 
Time of nidification.—V1; early in the month. 
According to a statement in one of the first volumes of 
the ‘ Zoologist,’ this species, upon its arrival on our shores, 
flies to and fro generally in small flocks, which form two 
lines about a mile apart, and the nearer line about a mile 
and a half from the shore: distances are, however, very 
difficult to measure with the eye, as will at once be dis- 
covered by any Englishman visiting Switzerland for the 
first time. I well remember when at Chamounix seeing a 
hawk pounce upon a small bird, at apparently a distance 
of about half a mile, but which my guide assured me was 
at least five miles; the truth probably lay somewhere 
between the two measurements. 
Mr. J. A. Harvie Brown says that in Scotland, where 
both this and the Black-throated species are by no means 
uncommon on fresh-water lochs, the Red-throated Diver 
very rarely, if ever, breeds upon the larger lochs, preferring 
the quiet moorland, marshy-edged tarns, and ‘“ lochans,” 
often nesting on the shore, and only frequenting the larger 
lochs in search of food. It is rare for two pairs to be found 
breeding upon the same loch.—(See ‘ Zoologist,’ 1877, 
p-. 296). 
Mr. Cecil Smith says that this species sometimes places 
its eggs so near the water as to be able to reach it with its 
bill.—(See ‘ Birds of Somersetshire,’ p. 544.) 
