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R E D - T H R O A T E D DIVER.
Colymbus septentrionalis, Linn.
Le Plongeon ¿1 gorge rouge.
T he Red-throated Diver, although possessing all the characteristics o f the genus, differs very considerably both
in colour and disposition of its markings from the other two species, viz. the Northern, and Black-throated,
which form its European congeners. Of these it is the least in size, but by far the most abundant, being found
in considerable numbers along the European coasts, and is especially plentiful in the arctic regions of both
the European and American quarters o f the globe. Although far from being uncommon on the sea-shores,
it appears to evince great partiality for fresh and inland waters, taking to the sea when these are frozen ; hence
in winter it is common along the coasts of England and Holland, beyond the latitudes of which it rarely passes
southwards.
Like the others o f its genus, it is a bold and vigorous diver, a mode of progression to which its lengthened
neck and body are admirably adapted. Its principal food consists of small fish, crabs and other Crustacea, to
which, when it visits fresh waters, are added frogs, newts, and aquatic plants. Its flight, when it is mounted
into the higher regions of the atmosphere, is rapid, and it has the capability of sustaining it for a long time.
We are able from experience to assure the reader, that the British Islands, particularly Scotland, the Orkneys
and Hebrides, are to be reckoned among its annual breeding-places; nor have we any reason to doubt that the
northern shores of Europe in general afford it an asylum also for a similar purpose. It constructs a slight
nest of grasses and vegetable fibres, among the herbage of morasses, and at the edges of such large lakes as
invite it by their seclusion and quietude. Its eggs, two in number, are of a dark red brown blotched over with
spots of black. The young, immediately after exclusion from the shell, are very active, follow their parents to
the water, and instantly commence their search for food. Their growth is rapid, so that they soon acquire
their full size, though not the adult colouring of the plumage till after the first autumn.
The young bird has hitherto been described in works on Ornithology as the Colymbus stellatus, the Speckled
Diver, &c.; the white throat which characterizes the birds o f the year, together with the speckled plumage of
the upper parts, having doubtless led to the mistake. The throat and fore part of the neck in the adult bird
are covered with short, thick-set, velvety feathers of a dark grey, having in the centre a broad longitudinal band
of rich chestnut,— at least during the summer, for we are as yet in doubt whether this character be lost as
winter advances; certain it is, that the adult birds taken in autumn have both the grey and chestnut o f the
throat less distinct and intermingled with patches of white. When the bird has become fully adult, the white
specks which more or less distinguish the upper plumage of the young birds, according to their age, disappear,
leaving the back o f a uniform greenish brown. The upper part of the head and back o f the neck are marked
with longitudinal, wavy, narrow lines of white edged with black; breast and under parts white; flanks dashed
with ash-coloured blotches; beak black;. irides orange; tarsi on their external aspect, and toes, of a deep
olive black, having their internal sides and webs o f a livid white.
We have figured an adult and a young bird of the year two thirds of their natural size.