C O I S M B T T S G J L A C I A X I S , Linn.
— glacialis, maximus et hiemaUs, Brektn, Handb.
Mergus major, Briss. Orn., tom. vi, p. 105, pl. 10. fig. 1
nmitts, Briss. ibid., p. 120, pl. 11. fig. 2
Eudytes glacialis et Immer, 111. Prod. Syst. Mamm. et A
Cepphus Imber et Lomvia, Pall. Zoog. Ross.-Asiat., tom.
T he Colymbus glacialis stands at the head o f a genus, the members o f which are so strictly confined to the
northern hemisphere that" none are found south of the line, neither do any o f them proceed nearer the
equatorial region than the latitudes of Madeira or Teneriffe; but to the northward of these they abound.
In all the seas surrounding the British islands* and especially in the firths and salt-water loch?» o f the eastern
and western parts of Scotland, they may be seen, courageously breasting the wares, or making lengthened
dives in *t*rcb of the fish, crustaceans, and moilusks upon which they principally live ; and there seems little
reason u> doubt that the b o ttom o f the seas round our coasts and the beds o f our tidal rivers are as closely
searched for these kinds o f food as the fields or furzy commons are by the Harrier for small quadruped
and birds, or the ploughed lands by the Peewit for worms and insects.
The bony structure and the dense adpressed plumage o f the Great Northern Diver especially adapting it
for an aquatic life, it seldom resorts to the land except at the season o f reproduction, when it becomes
necessary for it to seek the shore for the purpose of depositing and hatching .its eggs. This duty performed,
the parents conduct their little brood, as soon as they have acquired sufficient strength to battle with the
waves and resist the dashing of the breakers, to that element on which they are destined to dwell, and where
they remain until, like their progenitors, they are prompted to reproduce their kind, for which purpose they
retire to countries further north, such as Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, the inland waters
of Davis’s Straits and Baffin’s Bay, and the fur-countries o f America. In all these localities it is known to
breed in greater or smaller numbers. From Mr. Alfred Newton’s Notes on the Ornithology o f Iceland we
leum that a pair or two breed on nearly every lake in that country; they arrive about the first week in
May, and towards the end o f August begin to show themselves on the sea, where, it appears, they remain
at: the winter. When the shores of the boreal regions become ice-bound, and the straits entirely frozen
over, the Great Northern Diver is o f necessity obliged to migrate to more genial latitudes, where a supply
of its maoral rood is still procurable; and hence it is that such numbers are seen around our islands in the
si-.vsoi.us of autumn u»d winter. That the birds here found do come from the far north, I think we have
c«nviot*m4{ i4v- i>> the circumstance o f an example killed on the Irish coast having an Esquimaux’» arrow
There is, probably, no aeons birds which has so puzzled the ornithologist with regard to the changes in
their plumage as the Divers, and o f tWtu none more than the present species. We are all aware that the
in summer. - Ducks and Cormorants undergo' the »ike tkvortttk«»’» sad changes; and 1 am e>-rtaw that the
Divers are similarly influenced, and that those parts o f the birds which are adorned w»th marfevngs o f black and
white arc thrown off and replaced by a totally different dress in winter; but we frpqawrtty find, at that season,
individuals which are .as. beautifully decorated as in spring and summer, i '<&• ttfSM1 be birds which have not
yet bred, and have anticipated the time in which the nuptial dress orrfwwmly assumed ? I think it likely
this is the case; and I believe that Mr. Gatcombe, o f Plymouth, who ha« paid considerable attention to the
subject, is o f the same.opinion as myself; it would be well, however,,if those who may be favourably situated
far observation would endeavour , to throw some additional light upon it. I hat the bird never attains its
fuse spotted plumage during the first autamn of its existence, and that it carries its grey dress until at least
tjie second year, is, in my opinion, more than probable; and hence it is that so large a number occur in
a costume characteristic both of wiuter and o f immaturity.
The food o f this voracious feeder appears to be of a varied character; for while it is said to feed upon
herrings, sprats, and all the other kinds o f fish o f a similar size the sea affords, it also eats crustacean* and
.«bailed ¡mdlnaks. When it visits the fresh waters, few birds, I presume, are more destructive : Mr. Bond
mfonn# me that one, procured on the reservoir at Naseby in Northamptonshire, vomited thirty-owe roach ww
token into the boat. Its diving-powers are wonderful, and it is with the greatest thffienfty the bird *sm