296 WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL OF GREAT BRITAIN 



THE GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. 



{Colymbus gladalis.) ' 



Male. — The bill is black, three inches in length, 

 the tips being horn-coloured. The iris is bright red. 

 Head and neck are a deep bluish-green, glossed 

 with purple. There is a patch on the throat, and a 

 broad ring on the neck, not completed in front, of 

 white streaked with black. The upper parts of 

 the birds are black. The middle of the back 

 and scapulars have rectangular white spots. The 

 wings have the white spots round, two of them on 

 each feather. The tail is brownish-black ; the pri- 

 mary coverts, primary and secondary quills are 

 brownish-black, glossed with green. The sides of 

 the lower part of the fore-neck are streaked, or 

 "striated," with black; the edges of the body 

 greenish-black, sprinkled with white dots. Lower 

 parts glossy white ; legs and toes bluish-purple 

 externally, tinged with reddish-yellow internally. 

 The membranes are blackish-brown, paler in the 

 middle. The length, from bill to tail, is thirty-six 

 inches. 



Female. — Resembles the male in plumage, but 

 is smaller. 



In the young the bill has the ridge of the 

 upper mandible dusky ; basal part and edges, 

 with the whole of the lower mandible, greenish- 

 yellow ; iris brown. The upper part of the head 

 and nape are dark greenish-brown. The hind-part 

 and sides of neck are grey brown, the latter marked 



