s so far leave its natural home as to proceed up one of our inland rivers

shot or hunted down. When it doe
and does not hesitate to turn back under the

ona fishing-excursion, it will dive to an enormous distance,
r e 5 os - 2 vc 2 rete i | ;
boat containing its pursuers, reappearing In a part of the river where least expected. Lord Falmouth’s
Cc C yh.
keeper assured me that he was for days in pur :
A
i ining 1 ird i 7 Ar | ‘ recothnan House.
successful in obtaining it; and the bird is now in the Museum at Treg é
1 1 Me >» Jaty / > 1
As there are few collections in the country, from the National Museum to that of the most humble
d by a mounted specimen of the Great Northern Diver, it would be

But it may be as well to mention one or

suit of one in the Tresillian river ; ultimately, however, he was

admirer of nature, which is not grace
where this or that individual was killed.
age may tend to confirm what I have said about the changes the bird undergoes.

two fine examples which he had procured in Orkney in the

useless to particularize
two, the state of whose plum
Mr. C. Monfort, of Worthing, showed me
beginning of August, and which were evidently unde
f winter, their throats and faces being interspersed with newly
ould ultimately cover the whole of the neck and

rgoing a change from the full-spotted plumage to the
plain dress © assumed perfectly white feathers,
which were doubtless the forerunners of the others that w
under surface. In opposition to this, Mr. Monfort saw a Great Northern Diver in its full spotted plumage,

off the coast at Brighton, on the oth of November. Other instances might be given, bat the above will be
sufficient.

« The Great Northern Diver,” says Macgillivray,
A wanderer on the ocean, it not only frequents the margins of the sea, fishing

‘ig among the most beautiful of those birds which seek

the waters of the great deep.
in the bays and estuaries, but may
distances as the Gulls and other hovering birds.
the water, its body being so much depressed that little of it seems exposed, compared with what we see of
the Black-backed Gull—the one like a deeply laden ship scudding steadily along, the other in ballast, with
scarcely a hold on the water, as it mounts the heavily rolling waves and again descends into the trough.
But though the Gull floats thus lightly, the Diver soon overtakes and shoots far ahead of it. In turning, the
Gull has the advantage, moving round with ease as on a pivot, the Diver steadily and majestically.......
The Loon makes but little use of his wings, and his great bulk and robust frame are ill-adapted for the
hovering flight of the Gulls and Petrels. There he comes, followed by his mate, and advancing with mar-
Forward again they start, the smooth

often be met with many miles from land, although seldom at such
There it floats lightly, it may be, but apparently deep in

vellous speed. Now they stop for a moment to survey the shore.
water rippling gently along their sides. Small effort they seem to make ; yet powerful must be the stroke
of the oars that impel masses so large at so rapid a rate. Now and again they dip their bills into the water,
then the head and neck; one glides gently into the water, without plunge or flutter, and in a few seconds
appears with a fish in his bill, which, with upstretched bead and neck, he swallows. The other, having
dived, appears with a fish larger and less easily managed. She beats it about in her bill, splashing the
water, and seems unable to adapt it to the capacity of her gullet, but at length, after much striving, masters
it. I have several times seen this bird shot by lying in wait for it in a place it frequents; but it is very
seldom that in a boat one hasa chance of procuring it ; for it is generally shy, and always extremely vigilant.
If shot at and not wounded, it never flies off, but dips into the water and rises at a great distance ; and
unless shot dead, there is very little chance of procuring it, its tenacity of life being great, and its speed
exceeding that of a four-oared boat. On ordinary occasions it is quite silent, but often, even at night, its loud,
clear, melancholy cry may be heard from the sea, and in calm weather at the distance of half a mile or more,
It is very seldom seen on wing; but in the estuaries and channels, at the turn of the tide, or early in the morning
and again in the evening, it may be seen flying at a great height, with a direct rapid flight, performed. by
quick beats of its expanded wings, which even then seem too small for its body, and contrast strangely with
those of the Gulls. In a direct course, it rapidly overtakes and passes a Gull flying at its utmost speed.”
“The situation and form of the nest,” says Audubon, “ differ according to circumstances. Some are
placed on the hillocks of weeds and mud prepared by the musk-rat on the edges of the lakes, or at some
distance from them among the rushes; others on the mud, amid the rank weeds, more than ten yards from
the water. The eggs are mostly three in number, 34 inches in length, by 2£ inches in breadth. They are
ofa dull greenish-ochrey tint, indistinctly marked with spots of dark umber. The young are covered at
birth with a kind of black stiff down, and in a day or two after are led to the water by their mother.”
The Plate represents the bird in its full summer plumage, about two-thirds of the natural size.