607 



Order VIII. PYGOPODES. 



Family COLYMBID-ffil. 



Genus COLYMBUS. 

 Mergus apud Brisson, Orn. vi. p. 105 (1760). 

 Colymbus, Linnseus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 221 (1766). 

 Eudytes apud Illiger, Prodromus, p. 282 (1811). 

 Cepplms apud Pallas, Zoogr. Posso-As. ii. p. 340 (1811). 

 Eudites apud Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 144 (1829). 



This genus contains only four species, three of which inhabit the northern portions of the 

 Palsearctic and Nearctic Regions, the fourth, Colymbus adamsi, G. R. Gray, being found only 

 in North-western America and on the eastern coasts of Asia. These birds frequent larger and 

 smaller lakes, rivers, and the sea-shores, being usually found near the coast, and not far out at 

 sea. They walk with difficulty, usually shuffling along or sliding on the ground, and seldom go 

 far from the water's edge ; but they swim with ease and grace, and dive with the greatest facility, 

 traversing long distances below the surface. They take wing unwillingly ; but when once on the 

 wing they fly swiftly, and usually at a considerable altitude. Their cry is loud and weird, and 

 is uttered both when the bird is swimming and when it is flying. They feed on fish, which they 

 pursue and catch by diving. They nest close to the water's edge, their nest being merely a 

 little grass or aquatic herbage collected together in a depression in the soil ; and their eggs, 

 two (or sometimes three) in number, are olivaceous brown or olivaceous green, blotched with 

 blackish brown. 



Colymbus arcticus, the type of the genus, has the bill about as long or rather longer than 

 the head, straight, slender, tapering to a sharp point ; nostrils small, linear, subbasal, pervious ; 

 wings short, narrow, the first primary longest ; tail very short, rounded ; legs short, placed far 

 behind ; the tibia feathered almost to the joint, the tarsus short, much compressed, edged before 

 and behind, covered with subhexagonal scales; hind toe very small, elevated, connected with the 

 second by a partially free and lobiform membrane ; anterior toes long, connected by a membrane, 

 the outer toe longest ; claws small, depressed, rounded at the end. 



228 



