82 
shore, but swims almost constantly, and 
breeds at the verge of the flood on desert 
coasts. Few have seen its nest, and the 
people of Iceland say that it hatches its 
eggs under its wings in open sea, which is 
not more probable than the incubation of 
the imbrim under water ! 
Some authors are of opinion that this 
bird is the male of the Red-throated Diver. 
Temminck says, that the "young of the 
first year are extremely like those of the 
Great Northern Diver. They may, how- 
ever, be distinguished from them by their 
length; those of the latter species often 
measure twenty-eight or twenty-nine inches 
whereas the former do not exceed twenty- 
three or twenty-four inches. The young 
black-throated Diver have often a dark 
band which extends along the sides of the 
neck, and which is altogether wanting in 
the young Northern Diver. The young at 
the age of one year have the head and back 
of the neck of alight ash-colour; throat 
and front of the neck white; but on the 
throat and sometimes on the front of the 
neck, some feathers of a violet-black ap~ 
