648 GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. 
Mr. Abbot agrees with us in opinion that the P. anh nga is the fe- 
male of this species. He says — 
“ Both the Darters I esteem as but one species. I have now by me 
a, drawing of the male, or Black-bellied, only, -but have had specimens 
of both at the same time. I remember that the upper parts of the fe- 
male were similar to those of the male, except that the color and mark- 
ings were not so pure and- distinct; length, thirty-six inches; extent, 
forty-six. These birds frequent the ponds, rivers, and creeks, during 
the summer ; build in the trees of the swamps, and those of the islands 
in the ponds ; they construct their nests of sticks; eggs, of a sky blue 
color. I inspected a nest, which was not very large; it contained 
two eggs, and six young ones, the latter varying much in size; they 
will occupy the same tree for a series of years. They commonly sit 
on a stump, which rises out of the water, in the mornings of the spring, 
and spread their wings to the sun; from which circumstance they 
have obtained the appellation of Sun-Birds. They are difficult to be 
-shot when swimming, in consequence of only their heads being above 
the water.” 
———+——__—_. 
GREAT NORTHERN DIVER, OR LOON. — COLYMBUS 
GLACIALIS. — Fie. 313. 
Pennant, Br. Zool. 237. — Arct. Zool. 439. — Le grand Plongeon tacheté, Briss. 
Orn. vi. 120, tab. 2, fig. 1.— L’Imbrim, ou grand Plongeon de la Mer du Nord, 
: Buff. Ois. xv. p. 461. ‘Pl. enl. No. 952. — Turt. Syst. i. 356. — Lath. Gen. 
Syn. iii. pt. 2, p. 337. — Colysnbus maximus caudatus, Raii Syn. p. 125, A. 4. — 
Greatest Speckled Diver, or Loon, Willoughby, Orn. p. 341. P Great Speckled 
Diver, Bartram, 295.— Albin, iii. pl. 93.— Bewick’s Br. Birds, ii. p. 168. — 
Peale’s Museum, No. 3262, male, and young ; No. 3263, female. 
COLYMBUS GLACIALIS. — Linnxvs.t 
Colymbus glacialis, Bonap. Synop. p. 420.— Flem. Brit. Anim. p. 132. — North. 
ei Zool. ii. p. 474. , 
Turs bird in Pennsylvania is migratory. Inthe autumn, it makes 
its appearance with the various feathered tribes that frequent our 
waters; and, when the streams are obstructed with ice, it departs for 
+ The genus Colymbus, or the Loons, have been restricted to those large Divers, of 
which our present species will point out a good example. They are all birds of a 
large size, truly aquatic ; are seldom on land except during incubation ; and, though 
endowed with a considerable power, seldom fly, unless very much pressed by ne- 
cessity. ‘The Great Northern Diver is very frequent in the Frith of Forth, and 
there I have never been able either to make up with, or cause one to fly from the 
sea. Ihave pursued this bird ina Newhaven fahing- boat, with four sturdy rowers 5 
and, notwithstanding it was kept almost constantly under water by firing as soon as 
it appeared, the boat could not succeed in making one yard upon it. They are 
sometimes caught in the herring-nets, and at set lines, when diving. 
“" The Loons and Guillemots approach vey near in their characters, except in 
lesser size, and a particular modification of habit, in the one preferring the sea- 
shores, or the reedy banks of inland lakes, for breeding places, while the others are 
