O R D. III. GENUS VII. DIVER. 



Bill, ftrong, ftraight, pointed: upper mandible longeftj edges of each 



bending in. 

 Nostrils, linear. 



Tongue, pointed, long, ferrated near the bafe. 

 Legs, thin, and flat. 

 Toes, four, exteriour the largeft : hind toe joined to the interiour by a 



fmall membrane. 

 Tail, ihort, confifting of twenty feathers. 



SPECIES I. NORTHERN DIVER. 

 PI. 227. 



Colymbus glacialis. Un. Syfl. I. p. 221. 



Le grand Plongeon tachete. Brif. Orn. VI. p. 120. 



This is the largeft of the genus, being three feet five inches in length, four feet 

 eight inches in breadth, and weighing near twelve pounds. The bill is four 

 inches long, black, ftrong, and pointed : the head, and throat, are of a gloffy 

 changeable black : on the middle of the neck is a broad band of the fame z 

 breaft, and belly, white : fide of the breaft, daftied with dark lines : back, 

 wing coverts, and rump, dark lead colour, fpotted with white oblong markings, 

 largeft on the back, decreafing in fize toward the neck and tail : quill fea- 

 thers, and tail, black : legs, black, and clofe to the vent. 



This bird inhabits the northern parts of Great Britain, but is rarely to be 

 met with, except at fea. As we have no information of the manner of breed- 

 ing of this genus of birds, that can be depended on, we may venture to fup- 

 pofe, that, like the grebes, they make a floating neft on retired waters. If we 

 confider the fituation of their legs, at the extreme part of the body, and their 

 having fcarcely any thighs, we muft be convinced, that they were not intended 

 for walking: we cannot fuppofe, therefore, that theie birds are inhabitants of 

 the terreftrial part of the globe, but that they breed and live on the water only. 



