GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. 295 



most awful screams and vigorously attacks all around it. 

 It feeds entirely on fish, and is frequently taken in the her- 

 ring nets. I have had two fine adult specimens^ male and 

 female, brought to me, which had been caught in this man- 

 ner oflp Brighton. Mr. Booth remarks that on April 31st, 

 1874, he noticed half a dozen fine mature birds, together with 

 three or four in a half-and-half state of plumage, at sea, off 

 Brighton, and a few days later some Worthing fishermen re- 

 ported a party of thirteen off Goring, half of which were in 

 full plumage. Mr. Jeffery {' Zoologist,' p. 3035-6) says that 

 a specimen of this bird was picked up on the top of a high 

 ridge of the chalk down, in the parish of Beddingham, on 

 December 20th, and that it is in the possession of Mr. P. 

 EUman, of that place, by whom it was found. He also records 

 (on p. 9449) a second, an adult female, killed on December 

 6th, 1864, and says that another accompanied it, and was 

 afterwards shot. In the first specimen were found two flat- 

 fish, and in the second a quantity of fish-bones ; he adds 

 that in the immature state the species is not unfrequently 

 met with during the winter months. Unless accidentally 

 driven by tempest, or in the breeding-season, this species 

 is never seen inland ; it is, ia fact, entirely built for swimming, 

 and owing to the legs being placed so far behind, it cannot 

 stand upright on them. Except to incubate its eggs, it never 

 comes on shore, and, in fact, it cannot walk without resting 

 its breast on the ground. The nest is generally on an island 

 in a lake, always on the edge of the water, and much exposed. 

 It is slightly and clumsily made of decayed grass and water- 

 plants, a road being ploughed by the bird from the nest to 

 the water. 



