The Great Northern Diver. 
397 
THE GKEAT NOKTHEEN DIVER 
(Colymhus glacialis.) 
The Great Northern Diver is found most abundantly in 
the Arctic seas, but a considerable number of them dwell 
on the shores of Scotland. It has a rather long, strong, 
and sharply pointed bill ; its back and wings are black, 
ornamented with numerous white spots; its lower 
surface is greyish-white; and its head and neck are 
black, with a couple of white collars across the front of 
the neck. The Great Northern Diver is a large bird, 
measuring nearly three feet in length; its wings are 
small in proportion to its size, but^yet the bird is able 
to fly very rapidly. It is, however, in the water that 
it is most active ; it swims and dives with the most re- 
markable ease, and even under water goes as fast as a 
four-oared boat. Its food consists of fishes, and it breeds 
amongst the herbage of the sea-shore, the female laying 
two or three eggs in a neat nest made of grass. 
