I ■ \ ' . ‘ ■ 
COLYMBUS. 
fpecies. It makes a large ned, a foot or more in thicknefs, 
in the water, compoied of grafs and aquatic plants, and lays 
five or fix yellowilh white eggs ; the ned is lb placed in the 
water, that it is condaotly kept wet, which feems elfential 
to the hatching of the young both of this and other fpecies 
of the genus. Their food is iifh, water-infefts, and plants. 
It is an admirable diver, and feems to make way under the 
water at a great rate, riling at an inconceivable didance 
from the place it plunges in at, and confiderably beyond 
the length of gun-lhot. We believe this bird to be pretty 
frequent on the old continent; it is likewile found at Hud- 
fon's Bay, in America, where it is called dijhijhet feekeep. 
In England it is called by the various names of didapper, 
dipper, loon, and dobchick. There is a variety rather larger, 
and differs in the following particulars : the upper parts 
are brown, tinged with purple ; the cheeks and fides of the 
neck incline to rufous; in other things it refembies the 
little grebe, and inhabits the Philippine illands. 
16. Colymbus Dominicus, the grebe of St. Domingo; 
is the fmalleft of all the grebes, being fcareely eight 
inches in length; bill black; plumage of all the upper 
parts dulky ; lides of the head, chin, and fore-part of the 
neck, dulky grey; bread, belly, lides, and thighs, lilvery 
grey, marked with fmall brown Ipots ; quills greyilh 
white, more or lefs marked with greyilh brown on the 
outer webs and tips; legs brown : inhabits the ifland of 
St. Domingo. There is a variety from Jamaica, of an 
uniform dulky lead-colour, except the middle of the bel¬ 
ly, which has a large patch of white ; the quills as in the 
above-defcribed, and mod likely differs merely in fex. A 
third variety with the belly wholly brown, comes from 
Cayenne, where it is known by the name of foccove . It 
is called at Jamaica and Barbadoes the twopenny chick. It 
is likewife an inhabitant of Surinam, where Fermin men¬ 
tions another to exid, fmaller, and wholly covered with 
cottony white feathers; the bill yellow, and the legs diort. 
He tells us that it is only feen in the favannas, near fmall 
ponds, and feeds on the lelfer filh. It is mod likely that 
this is the young of the others. 
17. Colymbus Hebridus, the Hebridal grebe; a lize 
larger than the little grebe; chin black; fore-part of the 
neck ferruginous; hind-part mixed with dulky; belly 
cinereous and filvery white intermixed. Inhabits Tiree, 
qne of the Hebrides. 
18. Colymbus podiceps, the pied-bill grebe; length 
fourteen inches ; bill drong, a little bent, not unlike that 
of common poultry, colour olive, with a dulky bafe, and 
eroded through the middle of both mandibles with a bar 
of black 9 nodrils very wide; irides white ; chin and 
throat of a glolTy black, bounded with white ; upper part 
of the neck and back dulky; cheeks, and under parts of 
the neck, pale brown; bread and belly dlvery, mottled 
•with afli-colour; wings brown; ends of the fecondaries 
white ; toes furnilhed with a broad membrane. The fe¬ 
male wants the black bar on the bill, and has the chin 
and throat of the fame colour with the red of the neck. 
Inhabits from New York to South Carolina; is called in 
the fird the hen-beaked wigeon, and arrives there late in 
the autumn, and goes away in April. 
19. Colymbus luberidatus, the half-creded grebe ; the 
cred on the head is fmall and black; irides light red; bill 
black and deprefled ; throat cinereous; bread and belly 
of a filvery white mixed with cinereous j back and wings 
black : native of Aultria. 
20. Colymbus parotis, the parotid grebe; the head is 
of a fhining black; the throat yellow, barred or driped 
with black 5 fides of the neck from the Ihoulders bright 
ferruginous, afeending up and terminating on the fides 
of the head like ears; back and wings black; bread and 
belly fpotted with white: difeovered by Dr. Sparrman. 
21. Colymbus Cafpicus, the Cafpian grebe; the head 
fmooth and gloily ; all the upper parts of the body dulky 
brown approaching to black; the under parts of a filvery 
white : inhabits the Cafpian fea. 
Von, IV, No. 243. 
The DIVERS. 
Though many acquatic birds dive even to the bottom 
of the water, in purfuit of their prey, the name of diver 
has been appropriated to a final! family, diftinguilhed. 
from the red by their drait pointed bill, and their three 
fore toes connected together by an entire membrane, 
which throws a hem along the inner toe, from which the 
hind one is parted ; their nails are alfo fmall and point¬ 
ed ; their tail is extremely (hort, and fcareely vifible; 
their feet are very fiat, and placed quite behind "the body ; 
their leg is concealed in the lower belly, a difpofition well 
adapted for fwimming, but almod incompatible with walk¬ 
ing. In faff, the divers, when on land, are obliged, like 
the grebes, to dand ereft, and cannot maintain their ba¬ 
lance ; but, in the water their motions are fo nimble and 
prompt, that, the inftant they perceive the flalh of a gun, 
they plunge and elcape the ball. 
22. Colymbus glacialis, the northern diver. This bird, 
is the larged of the genus, and exceeds the goofe in fize, 
weighing iixteen pounds, and meafures near three feet fix 
inches in length ; the breadth four feet eight inches. The 
bill is four inches and a half long, and black ; the head 
and neck of a deep velvet black; under the chin is a 
patch of white, marked with feveral parallel lines of 
black; on each fide of the neck a large portion of the 
fame, elegantly marked with black lines, almolf uniting 
at the back part; fides of the bread decorated in the lame 
manner, but the lines not fo numerous; the hind part of 
the neck, back, wing-coverts, and f'capulars, are black, 
marked with round fpots of white, which grow larger as 
they advance downwards ; and on the feapulars, and part 
of the larger coverts, the fpots are of a fquare form, and 
placed in rows; the quills and tail are black ; the wings 
are Ihort; the bread and under parts white ; legs black. 
The female is fmaller, and the ring on the neck is lefs 
didinft. In young birds, alfo, the plumage does not feeni 
to correfpond, even when of a confiderable fize; hence 
we fufpeft that the bird does not arrive at perfection till 
the fecond or third moulting. This fpecies inhabits le- 
veral parts of the north of Europe, but is not very fre¬ 
quent on our fliores; nor is ever lien fouthward, except 
in very fevere winters. It is leldom met with on land, being 
for the mod part on the open fea, where it is continually 
diving for filh, which it does with great agility, and fl;es 
high and well. One of thefe was caught alive near Kel- 
wick, in Cumberland, in July, 1781. It was, as is fup- 
poled, making for the lake, but grew tired before it had 
power to reach it. It is common in Iceland and Green¬ 
land, where it breeds, and at that time frequents the fre'fli 
waters. It is very plentiful in Norway, and all along the 
Arftic coads, as far as the river Ob, in the Ruflian domi¬ 
nions, and at Hudfon’s Bay. The Barabinzians, a na¬ 
tion lituated between that river and the Irtifch, tan the 
breads of this and other water-fowl, whofe Ikins they pre¬ 
pare in fuch a manner as to preferve the down upon them; 
and, fewing a number of them together, fell them to make 
pellices, caps, &c. Garments made of thefe are very warm, 
never imbibing the lead moidure; and are more lading 
than would be imagined. The female lays two large pale 
brown or done-coloured eggs, in June. They change 
place according to the feafon, and are found at times at 
New York. The natives of Greenland ufe the fkins for 
clothing ; and the Indians about Hudfon’s Bay adorn 
their heads with circlets of their feathers. At the lad 
place it is known by the name of atbinuemoqua . As they 
are feldom feen on the fea-coads, but chiefly among.the 
lakes, they are called by the Indians inland loons. In the 
northern regions, every pair of thefe birds occupy a lake, 
and breed on the final! illets,where the young defend them- 
felves courageoufly with their bills. Of this bird we have 
the folio wing account intheNaturalid’sCalendar, publilhed 
in 1795, by the late reverend Gilbert White, of Selbourn, 
in Hamplhire : “ As one of my neighbours was traverfing 
30 E Wolraer 
