r82 
allen’s naturalist’s library. 
hand appears in reach, there is a sudden splash with wings 
and feet, and such a thrust is delivered with the sharp bill 
that, if it take effect, it will probably interfere with the captor’s 
shooting for some days afterwards. 
“ Its usual note bears considerable resemblance to the 
barking of a small dog; but upon a calm summer’s evening 
I have heard it utter a long-drawn plaintive cry so strangely 
unlike any other known to me that I cannot even attempt to 
describe it. Upon the long-disputed subject of the capability 
of the Divers to sit erect, most observers confidently assert 
that they have seen it in that attitude. My own repeated 
disappointments have convinced me at least that a Cormorant 
having the under parts white has invariably been the cause of 
such impression.” 
Nest. — A rude affair of dead grass and water-plants, placed 
at a short distance from the water, and approached by a path 
worn by the passage of the birds to and fro. 
Eggs. — Two in number. Ground colour olive-brown or choco- 
late-brown, with black spots varying in size, and occasionally 
collecting round the larger end, the underlying spots indistinct 
and dark grey. Axis, 3‘4-3'8s inches; diam., 2-I-2-3. 
II. THE WHITE-BILLED DIVER. COLVMBUS AD.AMSI. 
Colymbus adamsi, Gray, P. Z. S. 1859, P- 167 ; B. O- U. List 
Brit. B. p. 201 (1883) ; Seebohra, Hist. Ilrit. B. iii. p. 405 
(1885); Saunders, Man. Brit. B. p. 695 {1889). 
(Plate CXni.) 
Adult Male.-— Similar to C. gladalis, but distinguished by tlie 
yellow or whitish bill and by the more distinct purple shade 
on the throat. The white streaks composing the transverse 
band on the throat are much broader and are not more than 
eight in number, whereas in C. gladalis there are more than 
twelve ; the band on the lower neck is wider than that of 
C. gladalis, and consists of less than ten streaks of white, 
while in C. gladalis there are twenty of these white streaks. 
The lower back and rump are uniform, not spotted with white 
as in C. gladalis ; bill whitish, a little dusky at the base. 
