CHAPTER VI.
GREBES AND DIVERS, PENGUINS, AND TUBE-NOSED BIRDS.
THE GREBES AND DIVERS.
Photo by W. F. Piggott] [Leighton Buzzard.
BLACK-THROATED DIVERS.
These very handsome birds breed in Scotland.
The Grebes and Divers are representatives of an exceedingly ancient type, and are in many ways besides very interesting. Both are common British birds. The greater part of their lives is spent upon the water, and to suit this aquatic existence their bodies are specially modified. One of the principal features of this modification is seen in the position of the legs. These, by a shortening of the thigh-bones in the grebes, leave the body so far back that when the bird walks the body is held vertically. With the divers walking has become an impossibility, and they can only move on land on their bellies, pushing themselves along with the feet. Both grebes and divers are expert swimmers, and dive with the greatest ease, remaining long under water. The grebes haunt ponds, lakes, and broads; the divers prefer the open sea. Both feed on fish.
Photo by G. W. Wilson & Co., Ltd.] [Aberdeen.