.JLACK-THKOATED diver. 
179 
of ascertaining whether it yields a supply of suitable food, and afterwards 
raise themselves and beat their wings. 
This species has almost as powerful a flight as the Great Northern Diver 
or Loon, and I think shoots through the air with even greater velocity. 
When flying it moves its wings rapidly and continuously, and has the neck 
and feet stretched out to their full length. I well recollect that while I was 
standing near the shore of a large inlet in South Carolina, one of these birds, 
being shot while passing over my head at full speed, did not, on account of 
the impetus, reach the ground until upwards of twenty yards beyond me. 
They are equally expert at diving, and fully as much so in eluding the 
pursuit of their enemies when wounded. I saw my friend Mr. Harris 
bring down one from on wing, on which Napoleon' Coste, and William 
Taylor, captains of the revenue cutter and tender of which we had the use, 
paddled in pursuit of it in a light canoe ; but, although they advanced with 
all the address of Indians, they proved unsuccessful, for after following it 
both in the Bay of Cayo Island, and in the Gulf of Mexico, for nearly an 
hour, they were obliged to return without it, having found it apparently not 
in the least fatigued, although it had dived sufficiently often to travel above 
two miles, shifting its course at each immersion. It is curious to observe 
how carefully these birds avoid the danger of sudden storms or heavy gales. 
On such occasions, I have seen Divers at once seek the lee of rocks, islands, 
or artificial embankments, where they could not only remain in security, but 
also procure their accustomed food. At other times, when striving against 
the tempest, they dive headlong from on wing, and are sure to reappear in 
the smooth parts which sailors term the trough. 
I once caught one of these birds on the Ohio, it having been incapacitated 
from diving by having swallowed a large mussel, which stuck in its throat. 
It was kept for several days, but refused food of every kind, exhibited much 
bad humour, struck with its bill, and died of inanition. The food of this 
•species consists of fish, aquatic reptiles, testaceous mollusca, and all sorts of 
small crustaceous animals. Its flesh resembles that of the Loon, and is 
equally unfit to be eaten. 
The eggs, which are sometimes two, more frequently three, average three 
inches in length, by two in their greatest breadth, which is about a third of 
the whole length distant from the extremity. Their form is that of the 
Bed-throated Diver, which however they exceed in size. The shell is rather 
thick, the surface roughish, the ground colour chocolate tinged with olive, 
sparingly spotted at the larger end with very dark umber and black, and 
sprinkled all over with very small dots of the same colour. 
I have represented an adult male, a female, and a young bird. 
