184 
THE RED-THROATED DIVER. 
them, they marked my approach with great watchfulness. _ First they would 
dive and make their way to the farther end of the pond, after which, with 
outstretched necks, they would remain silent and motionless, until I 
approached within about a hundred yards, when, instead of diving again, as 
the Loon always does, they at once, with a single spring, rose from the 
watei’, and ere I had proceeded a few yards, they were already eight or ten 
feet above it. If I crept towards them through the tangled mosses or shrubs, * 
tfiey would swim about with their heads elevated, as if determined to make 
their escape on the appearance of imminent danger. In many instances, my 
party observed this species in small flocks of five or six in the same lake, 
when it happened to be of considerable extent ; and as this was during the 
height of the breeding season, we concluded that these associated birds were 
barren, as I ascertained that males and females, when once paired, remain 
together until their young are able to fly, when they part company, until the 
next pairing season, which is about the first of March. 
This species begins to breed in Labrador in the beginning of June, and 
about a fortnight earlier along the Bay of Fundy. The numerous nests 
which our party found in the former district were all placed on small 
sequestered islands in the middle of lakes or large ponds of fresh water, 
rarely more than one mile distant from the sea-shore. These nests consisted 
merely of a few blades of rank grasses loosely put together, and were quite 
flat, without any down to warm or conceal t'he eggs at any period of 
incubation. The nest was placed within a few feet of the water, and well- 
beaten tracks, such as are made by otters, led to it. Whenever the birds 
went to this spot they walked nearly erect in an awkward manner, but when 
they sat in their nest they laid themselves flat on the eggs, in the manner of 
a Goose or Buck. In no instance did they alight on the islands, but always 
on the water, at some distance, when, after examining all around them for 
awhile, they crawled silently out, and moved to the spot which contained 
their treasure. 
Having been told that the Red-throated Diver covers its eggs with down 
in the manner of many Ducks, I was surprised to find the assertion incorrect, 
and having killed several individuals during the period of incubation and 
immediately after it, I carefully examined them, and found all of them fully 
covered with down, they being, in this respect, quite different from the 
Eider Duck, the Velvet Duck, the Harlequin Duck, and other species of that 
family, nay even from the Black Guillemot. Probably it is on account of 
those birds breeding much farther north, that, according to Dr. Richardson, 
they there line their nest with down. We also found the Colymbus 
glacialis incubating without any in its nest. The idea generally entertained 
that the species never lays more than two eggs I found equally incorrect, 
