AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 269 



The length and rapidity of the dives of this bird 

 when pursued are marvellous, and I have now and 

 then fairly exhausted the strength of four good 

 oarsmen in smooth water in vain attempts to tire 

 the "Master" of the Divers. So powerful are these 

 birds that it is only when driven up into a narrow 

 creek that I have ever seen them forced to take wing. 

 An instance of the capture of one of this species in 

 a trammel-net at a depth of 30 fathoms is recorded 

 in the 4th vol. of Yarrell. 



221. BLACK-THROATED DIVER. 



Colynihus arcticus. 



An immature bird of this species was recorded by 

 Mr. W. Tomalin in ' The Field ' of November 5, 1881, 

 as ha^dng been shot upon Naseby Reservoir on 

 October 25 of that year, and was sent for preser- 

 vation to Mr. J. Gardner, of Oxford Street, in whose 

 shop my friend Colonel L. H. Irby and I inspected it 

 on November 8, and found that it had been correctly 

 identified. This is the only occurrence of the Black- 

 throated Diver within the political boundaries of our 

 county that has come to my knowledge. I purchased 

 the skin of an adult bird of this species from 

 Mr. A. G. Elliot, which he found "in the flesh" 

 at Peterborough, he was assured that it had been 

 killed near Sutton Bridge about December 20, 1875 ; 

 and Captain J. A. M, Vipan informed me that he 

 killed a Black-throated Diver, the first that he had 

 ever seen on the Wash, on November 12, 1886. Of 

 course I cannot claim either of these latter specimens 

 as Northamptonshire birds, but their occurrences 



