200 
colymbida;. 
Mr. B. Ball, in mentioning to me that two fresh specimens of 
this bird had been brought to him in Dublin on the 23rd of De- 
cember, 1844, remarked, that in the throat of one were the body 
(without the claws) of a large shore-crab ( Carcinus mcenas ), and 
two razor-fish ( Solen siliqua ) . The stomach of one of these divers, 
killed near Holywood, Belfast Bay, that came under my own no- 
tice, contained the bodies of two crabs, a Carcinus , and one of the 
larger species of Fortunus , each of middle size. 
The great northern diver has already been incidentally alluded 
to as occurring on various parts of the coast. It is a regular 
winter visitant in the south, as well as in the north. Two of my 
correspondents mention immature birds as not uncommon every 
winter on the coast of Waterford and Cork, though one adult 
bird only had come under the notice of either of them there.* 
On the 24th of May, 1842, a female, in at least the next stage to 
maturity, the back being quite perfect, and nearly all the dark neck- 
collar likewise so, was shot off Dungarvan in the former county. 
“ It contained no eggs larger than snipe shot, except two, the 
size of swan drop.”f At Glengariff, Bantry Bay, they are some- 
times seen until April about Tralee, three or four adult birds 
have been obtained, one of which was captured in a lobster-pot§ : 
— in the bay there, two, in the plumage of the imber, w^ere seen 
and one of them shot, late in the month of May 1850. || On the 
Galway coast, about Boundstone, they are considered rare.^f A 
fine adult bird taken in the nets of E. J. Cooper, Esq., Markree 
Castle, county Sligo, on the 4th of June, 1850, was sent to the 
University Museum, Dublin. The species is generally dispersed 
around the coast, though in much less numbers than the red- 
throated diver. 
I ascertained, when at Islay, in January 1 849, that the great 
northern, as well as the red-throated diver, are regular winter 
visitants : — I saw some of the latter species. 
* Dr. J. R. Harvey, June 1848. 
| Mr. G. Jackson. 
[\ Mr. Robert D. Fitzgerald, jun., Tralee, 
f Mr. R. Davis, jun, 
§ Mr. R. Chute. 
II MivW. M‘Calla, 
