THE DIVERS. 1 95 



muscle in this and other diving birds has an unusually large develop- 

 ment to give further strength. Their plumage is smooth and silky, 

 and impervious to water from its oily nature. They live chiefly on 

 the sea, coming on land in the breeding season. 



. The Divers ( Colyi?ibus) are distinguished from other Brachypteres 

 by their beak being longer than the head, straight, robust, and nearly 

 cylindrical, slightly compressed on the sides, acute, the upper man- 

 dible longer than the lower ; their toes, in place of being each 

 furnished with marginal membranes, have the three united by a single 

 membrane ; their feet being placed far backward and on the same 

 perpendicular line with the tibia — an arrangement very unfavourable 

 for walking, compelling the birds to take a vertical position, render- 

 ing their movements on land both painful and difficult. 



They are, however, intrepid swimmers, and they dive with such 

 alertness that it requires a quick eye and hand to shoot them. They 

 are inhabitants of northern seas ; there they build their nests in 

 some solitary islet or desert promontory, where they lay two eggs, 

 oblong in shape, and more or less in colour of an Isabella white. 

 Fish, particularly the herring, form their principal food ; crustaceans 

 and marine vegetables are also eaten by them. Their flesh is tough 

 and leathery, and has a disagreeable taste. In the winter they migrate 

 to temperate countries, where they frequent rivers and lakes, re- 

 turning to the northern regions when the ice has broken up. 



There are three species described : the Great Northern Diver, 

 the Arctic Diver, and the Imber Diver. But there is considerable 

 doubt on this subject, the young of C. glacialis of the first and 

 second year being so unlike the parent bird as to have been long 

 supposed a distinct species. 



The Great Northern Diver (Colymbus glacialis, Fig. 78). 



The Great Northern Diver is one of those birds which seek their 

 food on the bosom of the great deep. It is not numerous in British 

 waters, and can scarcely be called gregarious, although adults some- 

 times, and the young more frequently, fish in small parties of five or 

 six. A wanderer on the ocean, it not only frequents the margins of 

 the sea, fishing in the bays and estuaries, but it is also met with 

 many miles from the shore. Narrow channels, firths, coves, sea- 

 lochs, and sandy bays are, however, its favourite resorts; there it 

 floats, the body deeply submerged in the water. But though swim- 

 ming deep in the water, it can overtake and shoot ahead of all its 

 more buoyant congeners. But let us watch the actions of a pair of 



N 2 



