1810; the p r e v i o u s r e m a r k applies to D e v o n s h i r e . They are met with in
t h e immature plumage on the Hampshire coast in the winter months
not very r a r e l y . They are said to be more frequently met with than
formerly—as many as six or eight have been seen in one day that
have fallen to the gun. One was seen close to Haslar in March,
185.'!; and another, as I am informed by the Rev. J. Pemberton
I l a r t l e t t , was found in the N e w F o r e s t , near F o r d i n g b r i d g e , Hamps
h i r e , in J a n u a r y , 1851. It attacked the man who found it in a fierce
manner. They are not uncommonly seen about the Isle of W i g h t.
O n e , in immature plumage, in the possession of Mr. Chaffey, of
D o d d i n g t o n , K e n t , was killed near Sheerness about the year 1843.
O t h e r s near Maidenhead and P a n g b o u r n e , B e r k s h i r e , in 1701, and near
N e w b u r y in 1810. One, a y o u n g b i r d , of which Horace W a d d i n g t o n,
E s q . , of U n i v e r s i t y College, Oxford, has written me word, on the Isis,
between Godstowe and that city; also at North Aston, on the Cherwell,
in the autumn of 1861. Another was found in a garden at
H e a d i n g t o n H i l l , near Oxford, one morning, after a r e m a r k a b l y stormy
n i g h t , in October, 1824.
I n the county of N o t t i n g h am specimens occasionally occur on the
T r e n t . In Buckinghamshire a young specimen was found alive in a
dec]) ditch near Risborough, on the 9th. of May, 1850. It was kept
for some time at C h e q u e r ' s C o u r t , the seat of Lady F r a n k l a n d Itnssell,
and was then removed to the garden of the Zoological Society.
Several were driven on the Devonshire coast, five of which were
p r o c u r e d — o n e of them a male in full plumage; one in Torbay, in
D e c e m b e r , 1850. They arc not very unusual in winter along that
s h o r e , as also all the way from Kent to N o r t h u m b e r l a n d , by Essex,
Suffolk, at AVoodbridge, etc., Lincolnshire, Durham, and Yorkshire.
I n the last-named county one was taken at Cannon H a l l , near Barnsley,
t h e seat of Walter Spencer Stanhope, E s q . ; another at Gormire, near
T h i r s k ; one at S u t t o u - o n - D e r w e n t ; also at Whitby. In the county of
C u m b e r l a n d , Mr. H e y s h am says that immature birds occur at the like
season on the r i v e r s near the Sol w a y ; and in the month of J a n u a r y,
1835, one was killed at Talkin Tarn, near Brampton. In Sust.cx one
was picked up on the 20th. of the same month on the top of a high
r i d g e of t h e C h a l k Downs, in t h e parish of Beddingham. In 1821, one
was seen on a pool in Westwood I'ark, near D r o i t w i c h , AYorccstershirc,
t h e scat of Sir John Fakington, Bart., and it remained there for a
considerable time. A fine specimen was met with in Bedfordshire, on
t h e River Ouse, the 4th. of F e b r u a r y , 1830. In S u r r e y three specimens
have occurred near Godalming, two on Frensham Pond, and
one on Old Pond. Specimens are occasionally shot on Breydon Broad,
near Yarmouth, Norfolk; the young birds arc the more common.
The winter is the most productive season; in the summer they are
very r a r e l y seen. One at T h o r n h am about the 4th. of December, 1851.
Another also on Styperson Pool, in Adlington, near Macclesfield,
Cheshire.
I n Scotland the Great N o r t h e r n Diver is not very unfrequent on
t h e Banffshire coast, and is often seen on the F r i t h of F o r t h , and
in Caithness. It also inhabits the n o r t h e r n parts of S u t h e r l a n d s h i r e;
and Mr. Selby mentions that a pair were observed near the mouth
of the Durness F r i t h in full summer plumage. One was shot off the
mouth of the Spey, which was found to contain no fewer than
nineteen flounders and a salmon-trout. In Orkney, as before mentioned
young birds are common at all seasons of the year, and old ones,
which are more abundant in winter, are not u n f r e q u e n t l y seen in summer,
and arc therefore believed to b r e e d in the islands, that is, some
pairs, lor the generality leave about the latter end of May or beginning
of June. In the H e b r i d e s , Mr. Macgillivray mentions that
t h e y were observed in plenty till the beginning of that month. In
Shetland, too, the bird is, or rather used to be, plentiful. Air.
Robert D u n n shot one in H a m m e r Voe, in the p a r i s h of N o r t h m a v e n,
on the 28th. of J u n e . It was in perfect plumage, and he was informed
that it had been there all the summer.
I n Ireland it has occasionally occurred on the AYcxford and other
shores, and Dr. Fleming has recorded the occurrence of one off the
coast of Waterford, in the month of July, 1810. Thomas Eyton,
Esq., of Eyton, mentions its appearance in North AAralcs; and Mr.
Dillwyn has noted it in the vicinity of Swansea.
The sea is mainly the resort of this species, but it is occasionally
found on rivers, and breeds on the larger ones and inland l a k e s ;—
this chiefly within the polar circle. St. K i l d a ' s ' l o n e l y isle' is one of
their more southerly stations.
They are very shy in their natural habits, nevertheless they have
been kept for some time in confinement, when well supplied with
water. They are courageous as well as powerful birds, and the
blows that they are able to give are formidable from their size and
strength.
Montagu says, ' A N o r t h e r n Diver taken alive, was kept, in a pond
for some months, which gave us an o p p o r t u n i t y of a t t e n d i n g to its
manners. In a few days it became extremely docile, would come at
t h e call from one side of the pond to the other, and would take
food from the hand.' The young, when only a day or two old, are
led to the water by their mother.