THE GREAT NORTHERN DIVER.
(Colymbus glacialis.)
The Great Northern Diver is found most abundantly in the Arctic seas, but a considerable number of them dwell on the shores of Scotland. It has a rather long, strong, and sharply pointed bill; its back and wings are black, ornamented with numerous white spots; its lower surface is greyish-white; and its head and neck are black, with a couple of white collars across the front of the neck. The Great Northern Diver is a large bird, measuring nearly three feet in length; its wings are small in proportion to its size, but yet the bird is able to fly very rapidly. It is, however, in the water that it is most active; it swims and dives with the most remarkable ease, and even under water goes as fast as a four-oared boat. Its food consists of fishes, and it breeds amongst the herbage of the sea-shore, the female laying two or three eggs in a neat nest made of grass.
