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BLACK-THROATED DIVER. 
Colymbus Arcticus, Linn. 
PLATE CCCCLXXVII. — Male, Female, and Young. 
One of the most remarkable circumstances relative to this beautiful bird, 
which is intermediate between the Red-throated Diver and the Loon, is the 
extraordinary extent to which the wanderings of the young are carried in 
autumn and winter. It breeds in the remote regions of the north, from 
which many of the old birds, it would seem, do not remove far, while the 
young, as soon as they are able to travel, take to wing and disperse, 
spreading not only over the greater part of the United States, but beyond 
their south-western limits. In Texas I saw individuals of this species as 
late as the middle of April 1837 ; and I find it enumerate!! in a list of the 
birds observed by Mr. J. K. Townsend on the Columbia river, where he 
also met with Colymbus glacialis. Its ramblings over a considerable 
portion of northern and eastern Europe have equally been noted, and it has 
been found breeding in the extreme north of Scotland. 
For many years I knew the young of this bird only by the name “ Imber 
Diver,” applied by Bewick to that of another species, and now have 
pleasure in looking upon a drawing of mine, made about thirty years ago, 
with that appellation attached to it. Very few old birds in full plumage have 
been procured within the limits of the United States, and none, in as far as I 
know, farther south than the Capes of Delaware. 
No sooner has the foliage of the trees that border our western waters 
begun to drop and float on the gentle current of the fair Ohio, than the Black- 
throated Diver makes its appearance there, moving slowly with the stream. 
The Mississippi, Missouri, and their tributaries, are at the same period 
supplied with these birds. Along our eastern and southern shores they are 
seen from the end of autumn until spring. 
Whilst in Labrador, I saw a few pairs courting on wing, much in the 
manner of the Red-throated Diver ; but all our exertions failed to procure 
any of the nests, which I therefore think must have been placed farther 
inland than those of the Loon or Red-throated Diver. I observed, however, 
that in their general habits they greatly resemble those species, for on 
alighting on the water, they at once immerse their bills, as if for the purpose 
