476 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



[234.] 3. Colymbus septentrionalis. (Linn.) Red-throated Diver. 



Genus, Colymbus, Linn. 



Red-throated Ducker or Loon. Edw., pi. 97. Penn. Arct. ZooL, ii., p. 550, No. 443. 

 Plongeon cat-marin, ou a gorge rouge (Col. septentrionalis). Temm, ii., p. 916. 

 Colymbus septentrionalis (Red-throated Diver). Sab. Frankl. Joum., p. 703. Richards. 

 Append. Parry's Second Voy., p. 337, No. 36. Bonap. Syn., p. 421, No. 370. 



The Red-throated Diver frequents the shores of Hudson's Bay up to the extre- 

 mity of Melville Peninsula, and is also abundant on the interior lakes. It lays 

 two eggs, on a little down, by the margin of the water: those brought home by 

 Sir Edward Parry are 35 lines long, 21 wide, and have a pale oil-green colour. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a specimen, killed at Hudson's Bay, lat. 57°. 



Colour. — Head, chin, and sides of the neck, lead-coloured ; centres of the plumage on 

 the top of the head blackish. Front of the neck occupied by a stripe that widens downwards, 

 of rich cochineal or purplish-red. Hind head, back of the neck, shoulders, and sides of the 

 breast, greenish-black, striped on the margins with white. Dorsal plumage and wings pitch- 

 black ; narrow space under the wings and under tail coverts also black, with whitish borders. 

 Under plumage and inner wing coverts white, the axillaries striped on the shafts with 

 blackish-brown. Bill black. Legs blackish-green. 



Younger individuals have the dorsal plumage interspersed with minute marginal spots, a 

 pair near the tip of each feather. 



Form. — Bill having the commissure quite straight ; but, the upper mandible being consi- 

 derably depressed at the front, the ascending gonys of the lower one causes the bill, when 

 closed, to appear very slightly recurved ; margins of both mandibles greatly incurved. Tail 

 of twenty feathers. Hind toe having a smaller lobe, and connected with the inner one by 

 a larger web than in C. glacialis. The nails more slender. 













Dimensions. 

















Inch. 



Lin. 









Inch. 



Lin. 







Inch. 



Lin, 



Length, total 



29 







Li 



sngth 



from nostrils to tip 



1 



6 



Length 



of outer toe 



. 3 



3 



„ of tail 



. 3 









i, 



of tarsus . . 



3 







■>i 



of outer nail . 



. 



H 



„ of wing . 



11 



3 





,, 



of middle toe 



3 







« 



of hind toe 



. 



H 



,, of bill above 



2 



2 





•>•> 



of middle nail 



. 



5 



,, 



of hind nail 







3 



of bill to rictus 



. 3 



1 





















Individuals, apparently in mature plumage, vary considerably in length, some being four 

 inches shorter than the above. — R. 



