625 



and though its flight is swift, yet it is, comparatively speaking, less frequently seen on the wing, 

 except when on passage or on its Avay from one sheet of water to the other. But in the water its 

 movements are graceful and easy, and, whether swimming on the surface or diving below, it 

 propels itself with great rapidity and ease. It swims low down in the water, and when uneasy 

 or alarmed will submerge its body below the surface, leaving only the head and neck in view. 

 When it dives it vanishes below the surface without noise or flutter, and propels itself along with 

 its wings as well as its feet, frequently remaining for some time before it emerges to view again. 

 When it flies up from the water it flaps for some short distance along the surface, splashing the 

 water as it progresses, and seems as if it had difficulty in rising into the air ; but when once well 

 under way, it flies with great rapidity, its flight being direct, the neck being stretched out hori- 

 zontally. When flying any distance, and when on passage, it flies at a great altitude, and may 

 sometimes be heard uttering its peculiar loud cry, which, like that of its allies, is exceedingly 

 weird and strange, resembling most the agonizing shriek of distress uttered by a drowning 

 person ; and even when one is accustomed to hear this wild cry, one cannot always divest one's self 

 of the feeling that something " uncanny " is near, when in the dusk of the evening the wild weird 

 shriek is suddenly uttered in the immediate vicinity. In some parts its cry is supposed to foretell 

 the near approach of rain ; but it appears chiefly to circle at a considerable altitude, uttering its 

 cry, during rain. Though shy and very wary when it has been subjected to persecution, it is, as 

 a rule, far less so than its allies ; and when unmolested it is tolerably fearless. When in Finland 

 I used very frequently to see the present species in the large lakes in the interior ; and I have 

 often reclined on a rock watching several Divers which were swimming and diving quite uncon- 

 cernedly within a short pistol-range of me. During the spring I collected in Northern Finland, 

 I obtained many eggs of this Diver, which breeds there not unfrequently. Its nest consists 

 merely of a little grass or a few rushes collected in a small depression in the ground close to the 

 water, and is usually placed on a small island or on the shores of an inland lake, or else, at the 

 Gulf of Bothnia, on the shores of the gulf itself. Whether both sexes incubate I cannot with 

 certainty say, because I never succeeded in surprising one on its nest ; for its mate, which is 

 seldom far off, at once gives the alarm, and the sitting bird takes to the water. If deprived of 

 their eggs, the birds will remain about near their despoiled home for some time, uttering loud 

 melancholy cries as if bewailing their loss. 



The eggs, which are deposited early in June, are two in number, and are always smaller 

 than those of the Black-throated Diver, measuring only from 2f § by lf^ inch to 3-^j by Iff, 

 are either olivaceous or else dark brown with a warm olivaceous tinge, and are somewhat 

 sparingly spotted and blotched with black ; one egg in my collection, however, is quite profusely 

 marked, whereas another is uniform olivaceous brown without a single marking. 



The specimens figured are the adult and the immature birds above described, and are in my 

 collection. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. H. E. Dresser. 



a,juv. Broxbourne, Herts, December 1870 (R. B. Sharpe). b, ad. Hitteren, Norway, June 1870 (R. Collett). 

 c, d, ad. (in summer plumage). Greenland (Benzon). e, pull. Archangel (Piottuch). 



2m 



