French Synonym.—Plongeon Imbrim: Temminck.
Fig. 80.—Great Northern Divers (Colymbus glacialis).
The Great Northern Diver is among the mass of those birds which seek their food on the bosom of the great deep. It is not numerous in British waters, and can scarcely be called gregarious, although adults sometimes, and the young more frequently, form small parties of two to five. A wanderer on the ocean, it not only frequents the margins of the sea, fishing in the bays and estuaries, but it is also met with many miles from the shore. Narrow channels, firths, coves, sea-locks, and sandy bays are, however, its favourite resorts; there it floats, the body deeply immersed in the water. But though deep in the water, it moves on steadily and majestically; it overtakes and shoots ahead of all its more buoyant congeners. But let us watch the actions of a pair of these children of the ocean, and listen while Mr. McGillivray describes one of those picturesque scenes in which he delights. "It is now the end of spring, when the returning warmth gives an increase of animation to the wandering tribes of the winged inhabitants of the ocean air; but the Loon makes comparatively little use of his wings, and his great bulk and robust frame would be ill adapted for the hovering flight of the Gulls and Petrels. There he comes, followed by his mate, advancing with marvellous speed. They have rounded the point, and now stop for a moment to cast a searching glance along the shore, lest an enemy should be lurking there. Forward they start—the smooth water rippling gently against their sides. Small effort they seem to make, and yet powerful must be the stroke of the oars which 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 under the surface, without plunge or flutter, and in a few seconds it appears with a fish in his bill, which, with upstretched head and neck, it swallows. The other having also dived, appears with a fish, larger, and less easily managed. She beats it about in her bill, plashing the water, and seems unable to adapt it to the capacity of her gullet; but at length, after much striving, she masters it, and continues her search. Backwards and forwards, over the clear sand of the shallow bay, they glide in their quiet way, and now they have both dived with their heads towards us. One rises close to the sea-weed, and so near to us, that we might almost count the spots on his back. The other, in emerging, has perceived us, and somehow communicates the discovery to her mate. They swim about for a short while with erected necks, then sink into the water, their heads disappearing last; and when we see them again, they are three hundred yards distant, standing out to sea, with half-submerged bodies." "If shot at and not wounded," continues this most picturesque of writers on Natural History, "it never flies off, but dips into the water and rises at a great distance, and unless shot dead, there is little chance of procuring it, for its tenacity of life is great, and its speed far exceeds that of a four-oared boat."
The great American naturalist, Audubon, has left a most interesting account of this bird in his "Ornithological Biography." After describing the various Transatlantic localities in which he has studied its economy, he describes its nest. "One that I saw," he says, "after the young had left it, on Lake Cayuga, was almost afloat, and rudely attached to the rushes, more than forty yards from the land, though its base was laid on the bottom, the water being only eight or nine inches deep. Others I examined in Labrador were placed on dry land, several yards from the water, and raised to the height of nearly a foot above the decayed moss on which they rested. The nest, however placed, is bulky, and formed of withered grasses and herbaceous plants found in the neighbourhood. The true nest, which is from a foot to fifteen inches in diameter, is raised to the height of seven or eight inches. Of the many nests I have examined, more contained three than two eggs, and I am confident that the former number most frequently occurs."
Of this handsome bird Sir John Richardson remarks, contrary to the generally-received notion, that it is seldom seen either in the Arctic Sea or Hudson's Bay, but that it abounds in all the inland lakes. It is rarely found on land, being ill fitted for walking, but admirably adapted to aquatic habits, swimming with great swiftness and for considerable distances under water; and when it does come up, seldom exposing more than its neck. It flies heavily, but rather swiftly, and in a circle round those who have disturbed it in its haunts; its loud and melancholy cry resembling the howling of the Wolf, or the distant scream of a man in distress. When the Loon calls frequently, it is supposed to portend a storm. In the bad weather preceding the advent of winter on the smaller northern American lakes, previous to migration, their wild, weird note is so unnatural, that both the Indians and settlers ascribe to it supernatural powers.
The Imbrine Diver, L'Imbrim of Buffon, is also a fine bird of blackish plumage shaded with white, the belly and a ring round the neck being also white. The head is of a changeable black and green colour. When it has young, in place of diving under water, as its ordinary habit is when threatened, it boldly attacks its enemies with its beak. Its skin serves the Greenlanders as clothing. It inhabits the Arctic seas of both hemispheres, is abundant about the Hebrides, in Norway, in Sweden, and even on the coast of Scotland. Its appearance on the French coast is very irregular, and only after great storms.
The Arctic Diver, C. arcticus, has the beak and throat black; summit of the head ashy grey; the breast and the sides of the neck white, with black spots; the back and rump black; the coverts of the wings with white spots, and all the lower parts pure white. The bird, though rare in England and France, is very common in the North of Europe. It is found on the lakes of Siberia, of Iceland, in Greenland and Hudson's Bay, and sometimes in the Orkney Islands. The women of Lapland make bonnets with its skin dressed without removing the feathers; but in Norway it is considered an act of impiety to destroy it, as the different cries which it utters are said to prognosticate fine weather or rain.
The Black-throated Diver (Colymbus arcticus).
English Synonyms.—Black-throated Loon, Black-throated Diver: Montagu, Selby.