PODICIPINJE. PODICEPS. 
209 
2?8« COLYMBUS SEPTENTRIONALIS. BED-THROATED LOON. 
Adult about two feet five inches long, with the bill bluish- 
black, slightly curved upwards, two inches and a third along 
the ridge, two-thirds of an inch in height at the base, with 
the sides prominent, the edges much inflected ; the sides of 
the head and neck, with the throat, bluish-grey ; the upper 
part of the head marked with small dark spots, the nape, 
hind, and lower parts of the neck streaked with black and 
white, the fore-part of the neck with a broad longitudinal 
band of deep orange-red ; the upper parts greenish-black, 
without spots ; the lower white, but the sides greyish-black, 
and a narrow dark-grey band across the hind-part of the ab- 
domen. Young in winter with the bill flesh-coloured at the 
base, pale bluish-grey toward the end, the ridge dusky-brown ; 
the upper part of the head and the liind-neck greenish-grey, 
finely streaked with pale grey ; the cheeks and sides of the 
neck white, faintly dotted with grey ; the fore-part of the 
neck white ; the upper parts deep greenish-grey, glossy, and 
finely speckled with greyish- white, of which there are two 
oblong, divergent spots on each feather; the lower parts 
pure white, except the sides under the wings, which are dark- 
grey speckled with white, and a faint grey band across the 
hind-part of the abdomen. 
Male, 26, 44, Ilf, 2 T \, 3, 3, T \. Female, 23, 41. 
This species is much more common than the Great Northern 
Loon. From October to April it is met with in estuaries and 
along the coast, from the British Channel to Cape Wrath. 
In summer, many pairs breed by the lakes of the northern 
parts of Scotland and the Hebrides. The nest is bulky and 
rude; the eggs, two, elongated, unequal, the larger three 
inches in length, an inch and eleven-twelfths in breadth, olive- 
brown, greenish-brown, of various tints spotted and dotted 
with umber. The young betake themselves to the water soon 
after birth. The activity of this species on the water, and in 
flying, is still greater than that of the Bing-necked Loon ; 
but the habits of all the species are very similar. 
Bed-throated Diver. Speckled Diver. Sprat Loon. 
Colymbus septentrionalis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 220. — Colym- 
bus septentrionalis, borealis, striatus, and stellatus. Lath. 
Ind. Ornith. ii. 800, 801, 802, adult and young. — Colymbus 
septentrionalis, Temxn. Man. d’Grnith. ii. 916. — Colymbus 
septentrionalis, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, v. 
o 
