404 
DIVERS. 
by Dr. Richardson from the dreary coast of Melville Island, in 
the latitude of 75° and 76°, in August, where these birds were 
seen by thousands. This is probably almost the last bird ob- 
served within the desolate and glacial boundaries of the earth. 
In Greenland and Spitzbergen Dovekies congregate in great 
flocks, and in the depth of winter, watching the motion ot the 
ice in the offing when it is broken up by storms, they crowd by 
thousands into every opening fissure or flaw, in order to snatch 
up the marine productions on which they subsist. Mr. Audu- 
bon found a few individuals breeding on the coast of Labrador. 
In Newfoundland this species is called the Ice Bird, being the 
sure harbinger of severe weather, as it seldom proceeds far from 
its inclement natal regions, except when accidentally driv'en to 
shore by storms. In the United States its appearance is always 
solitary, being a mere wanderer, as it is also along the milder 
coasts of I'kirope. The uniform predilection of these birds 
is for the hyperboreal regions of their nativity, and they even 
fatten in storms when not overwhelmed by their fury, as at 
these times the small Crustacea and marine insects on which 
they feetl are cast up and brought to the surface in greater 
abundance. At times they appear to fly well, as appears by 
their extensive accidental migrations, they having sometimes 
been met with considerably inland, d'he water, however, is 
their more natural element ; they dive with great facility, and 
are often observed dipping their bills into the water, as if 
drinking. 
Those individuals which have been obtained in this vicinity, 
usually in the depth of winter, have sometimes been found in 
Fresh Pond, so lean and exhausted, by buffeting weather and 
fatigue, as to allow themselves to be quietly taken up by the 
hand. 
Like other species of the genus, and the family generally, 
associated with the Razor-bills, they seek out for their breed- 
ing-places the most inaccessible impending cliffs which project 
into the ocean, and in their clefts, without any artificial nest, 
deposit their single egg, which is of a pale bluish-green, com- 
monly without spots, but sometimes scattered with a few small 
