32 
COLYMBID.E. 
NATA TONES. 
COLYMBIDM. 
PLATE CCLXXIX. 
RED-THROATED DIVER. 
COLYMBUS SEPTENTRIONALIS. 
The Red-throated Diver is a periodical visitant in Great 
Britain, and was formerly considered to be identical with 
the foregoing, but the shape of the beak, when the two 
are compared together, its smaller dimensions in general, 
and other specific distinctions, sufficiently separate it from 
the former. This bird is not only found more southward 
than the two foregoing just described, but plentiful enough 
to be looked upon as an unwelcome intruder among the 
sprats on the river Thames, and has therefore been called 
the Sprat-loon by fishermen. From the mouth of the 
Thames these birds sometimes penetrate a considerable dis¬ 
tance inland, by which chance we obtained a young speci¬ 
men as high up as Chertsey weir in the autumn of 1838. 
The geographical distribution of the Red-throated Diver 
extends over many parts of Europe, Asia, and North 
America; including Greenland, Iceland, the Ferro and 
