BLACK-THROATED DIVER. 
2.9 
Altliough an inhabitant of North America, this species 
seldom occurs in the United States. In Holland and 
France it is a rare winter visitant, and still more so in 
Italy. 
It is remarked that this bird is nowhere so numerous 
as the foregoing species, but we may account for this 
supposition in some measure, as it seems by far less socia¬ 
ble in its habits. 
The manners and general appearance of the Black- 
throated Diver resemble those of the former so closely, 
that there is great difficulty in distinguishing them from 
each other, unless the bird can be sufficiently approached 
to see the colouring of the head and neck, and to judge 
of its size, the present being considerably less than the 
former. 
The powers of swimming and diving in this species, are 
equal to those of the Northern Diver, and its flight the 
same, notwithstanding that its wings are shorter in pro¬ 
portion, when compared with the bulky size of the bird. 
Their flight is performed with very quick motion of the 
wings, which are extended at full length ; and thus its 
course is rapid and long sustained. On land the present 
species is in a great measure helpless, like the rest of its 
family. 
The food of the bird here described, consists of fish, 
frogs, aquatic insects, and vegetables, and consequently 
its flesh is only fit for the stomach of a train oil digestor 
of the north. 
The present species breeds generally at a distance from 
the sea, on the edge of some lake or fresh-water river; 
the nest is composed of a few dried leaves and stalks of 
aquatic herbage, which are carelessly laid in a place trodden 
flat for the purpose. 
