The Gwatffi Speckled Diver. , Colymbus maximus Caudatus.
Numb. LXXXII.
TS Length from the Point of the Bill to the End of the Claws is thirty
-.one,Inches, to the Tail is twenty eight} Weight thirty fix Ounces ;
tEeXength of its Bill is three Inches.
' 'This'Bird feems to be of a middle Nature between whole footed Birds
with four Tbesj tod thofe with three ; it is near as big as a Goofe, long
bodied, hath a round Tail two Inches long; the upper part of the Neck
next the Head is covered with Feathers fo thick fct, that it feems to be bigger
than the Head it felf.
The Colour of the upper part, wg.'the Neck, Shoulders, covert Feathers
of the Wings, and whole Back, is a dark grey or dusky, pointed or fpeck-
led with white Spots : Thefe Spots are bigger upon the long fcapular Feathers
and Coverts of the Wings, and fmaller in the middle of the Back.
The lower part of the Neck, Breaft and Belly are white ; the Number of
quill Feathers in each Wing are about thirty, fhortand black; it hath a
very ihort Tail like a Duck, made up of at leaft twenty Feathers; its Bill
is ftreight and iharp like that of the Guillemot, both Mandibles black or livid,
covered with Feathers down to the Noftrils; it is whole Footed, and
hath very long fore Toes, efpecially the outermoft;. the back Toe is very
Ihort and little; its Legs are of a mean Length,- but flat and broad like
the Ends of Oars; the exterior Surface is brown, and the interior livid or
pale blue; the Claws broad like human Nails : The Legs are fituate very,
backwards, fo that it feems not able to walk unlefs eredted perpendicularly
on the Tail. It hath no Labyrinth upon the Wind-Pipe : The Liver is
divided into two Lobes, and hath a Bladder to contain Gall; above the Stomach
the Gullet is dilated into a kind of Craw ; the Throat is very loofe
and dilatable; the Guts large, efpecially towards the Stomach.
The Stomach islefs mufculous than in the Bird ihot on the River Tame
in Warwick/hire, and defcribed by Mr. Willoughby. Thefe Birds differ one
from another in Colours; for fome of them have a Ring about their Necks;
their Back, Neck and Head blacker, and painted with little white Lines,
others want the Ring, and have the upper Side of their Bodies more aih
coloured or grey, varied with white Specks, and not Lines; perhaps thefe
are the Hens, and the other the Cocks. This Bird I had from Newgate
Market, brought hither with other Wild Fowl.
The
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