GREAT NORTHERN DIVER. 
231 
The Laplanders, according to Regnard, cover their heads 
with a cap made of the skin of a Loom (Loon), which word 
signifies in their language lame^ because the bird cannot walk 
well. They place it on their head in such a manner, that the 
bird’s head falls over their brow, and its wings cover their ears. 
“ Northern Divers,” says Hearne, ‘‘ though common in Hud- 
son’s Bay, are by no means plentiful; they are seldom found 
near the coast, but more frequently in fresh water lakes, and 
usually in pairs. They build their nests at the edge of small 
islands, or the margins of lakes or ponds; they lay only two 
eggs, and it is very common to find only one pair and their 
young in one sheet of water: a great proof of their aversion to 
society. They are known in Hudson’s Bay by the name of 
Loons.”* 
The Great Northern Diver measures two feet ten inches 
from the tip of the bill to the end of the tail, and four feet six 
inches in breadth; the bill is strong, of a glossy black, and four 
inches and three-quarters long to the corner of the mouth; the 
edges of the bill do not fit exactly into each other, and are rag- 
ged, the lower mandible separates into two branches, which are 
united by a thin elastic membrane, and are easily moveable ho- 
rizontally or receding from each other, so as to form a wider 
gap to facilitate the swallowing of large fish; tongue bifid; iri- 
des dark blood red; the head, and half of the length of the neck, 
are of a deep black, with a green gloss, and purple reflections; 
this is succeeded by a band, consisting of interrupted white and 
black lateral stripes, which encompasses the neck, and tapers 
to a point on its fore part, without joining — this band measures 
about an inch and a half in its widest part, and to appearance is 
not continuous on the back part of the neck, being concealed by 
some thick, overhanging, black feathers, but on separating the 
latter the band becomes visible: tbe feathers which form these 
narrow stripes are white, streaked down their centre with black, 
and, what is a remarkable peculiarity, their webs project above 
Hearne’s Journey, p. 429, quai-to. 
