ardson describes it as very abundant on the lakes of the fur countries, and Temminck informs us that it is very common in Norway, Sweden, and Russia. It is, however, a remarkable circumstance, that while the adult birds are very rare upon the northern coasts of our island, the immature, in various stages of their plumage, are regular and abundant winter visitors to the bays and friths of Scotland and the neighbouring shores of England. The Frith of Forth is a favourite resort, in consequence of the shoals of herrings which there reside, and upon which the Divers make a luxurious repast: the herring, indeed, is their favourite food. The lakes of the interior, in the polar regions, are the summer resorts of this singular bird; and upon the shores of these lakes, and on the islets, they form their nests and rear their young.

The Northern Diver rarely flies, as it rises with difficulty; its flight, however, when it has fairly taken wing, is rapid, and Dr. Richardson observed that it flew in circles around those who intruded upon its breeding haunts. Its powers of swimming and diving are very great; indeed, it appears to pass the major part of its time beneath the surface of the water, either in pursuit of its food, or in order to escape observation. On diving, it generally proceeds for a hundred and fifty yards at a stretch without rising to breathe, and this act it accomplishes by raising its bill above the surface for an instant, when it again disappears. As in the genus Podiceps, the backward position of the legs, in connexion with the remarkable shortness of the thigh-bone, which stands at a right angle with the body, so as to give an outward direction to the feet, in order to render them more efficient as organs of aquatic progression, reduces the Divers, when on land, to a most embarrassed mode of pushing themselves along; this they do by resting the breast on the ground, which they strike at the same time with their feet.

The flesh of the Northern Diver, like that of the others of the genus, is rank and coarse; the Divers are, however, often killed for the sake of their skin, which is very tough, and when dressed with the feathers on it, forms

articles of clothing much valued by the rude natives of the northern countries. The skin of the Black-throated Diver, in particular, is much valued by the Esquimaux and Indians for its warmth and beauty.

The Northern Diver, when in adult plumage, is a most beautiful bird; its colours being arranged so as to produce a striking effect. The head and neck are jet black, with a broad collar of striated black and white, nearly encircling the lower part of the neck, being broadest at the back part, and narrowing as it proceeds to the front; a slender line of a similar mixture of white and black runs across the throat; the whole of the upper plumage is glossy black, thickly dotted with square marks of white, disposed in regular rows; sides of the chest, striated with longitudinal lines of black; under surface, pure white; tail, short and rounded, and consisting of twenty feathers ; bill, black; legs, dull black; length, thirty inches. In the young of the first year the head and upper plumage generally is grayish brown and the under plumage white; after the second moult, a dark band appears along the neck, and the upper plumage begins to assume indications of the adult character, which is still more developed at the third moult, and is perfected after the fourth.

• The BLACK-THroated Diver (Colymbus arcticus) is rarer than the preceding, confining itself more strictly to the polar latitudes. It is common in Hudson's Bay, but seldom visits the lakes in the interior of North America. Selby states that he suspects that instances occur of its breeding in Scotland, as he saw a pair upon Loch Awe towards the end of June, but did not succeed in detecting their place of nidification.

The commonest and most widely diffused of the genus is the RED-THROATED DIVER, (Colymbus septentrionalis.) In winter it visits the coasts of England, Holland, and France; and the young are common at that season on the inland lakes of Holland, Germany, and even Switzerland. In the Thames it feeds much upon sprats, whence the fishermen call it the " Sprat-loon;"

but herrings and other fishes are also eagerly devoured. The Red-throated Divers are abundant throughout the whole of the arctic circle, and numerous in Hudson's Bay, as well as upon the lakes of the interior. We are assured that a few annually breed in the Orkneys, and on the margin of some of the Scottish lakes. Their manners are precisely those of the others.

This species is easily distinguished in its adult plumage by the large patch of rufous brown on the fore part of the neck. The sides of the head and neck are deep smokegray; the top of the head and upper plumage, of a deep blackish brown; under plumage, silvery white, dashed with brown along the flanks; bill, dusky; tarsi, dull olive.

The young of the year (which has been called the Speckled Diver) has the top of the head gray, finely streaked with grayish white; upper plumage, blackish gray, the margins of the feathers being white and dull gray; throat and under plumage, white. The adult plumage is gradually acquired, but is not complete till after the third moult.

The Red-throated Diver is the smallest of the three, its length being about twenty-four inches.

Leaving the family Colymbida, we enter upon that termed Alcada, which comprehends the Guillemots, the Puffins, the Auks, the Penguins, &c.

The Alcada are strictly inhabitants of the sea, never resorting to fresh water lakes or rivers. They are characterized by a remarkable shortness of wing, which in several we find reduced to the condition of a paddle, being of no use whatever for flight, but admirably constructed for progress beneath the surface of the water. The legs are thrown far backwards, so that on land the birds sit upright, the whole of the tarsus resting on the ground. The toes are usually only three in number, and fully webbed; the hind toe, where it does exist, being very small and directed obliquely forwards. The bill varies much in form, but is generally compressed, and often grooved at the sides. In some it is elongated and

sharp; in some, moderate; in others, compressed so as to have a sharp edge above and below; in others, again, this flatness is carried to the utmost extent, the bill being also pointed. A few of the most characteristic forms of this organ we here subjoin, remarking, that we find a progressive series of links connecting the most opposite, so as to fill up the interval (with respect to form) between them.

Our first genus is Uria, (Briss.) which contains the Guillemots. The beak is strong, straight-pointed, and compressed; the nostrils are basal, and partly closed by a membrane covered with feathers; the tarsi are short; the toes, three only, and entirely webbed; the wings, short, narrow, and pointed; the tail, short.

In the form of the bill the Guillemots approach the divers, (Colymbus,) nor less so in their habits in the ocean; being excellent swimmers and divers, remaining with ease for a long time beneath the water, and proceeding to great distances. Their food consists of fishes and marine insects.

Their flight is rapid and maintained by repeated strokes of the wings, but is not capable of very long continuance;

nor is it needful that it should be more than sufficient to enable the birds to reach the ledges of the overhanging cliffs on which they breed. They lay a single egg only, which is very large at one end and narrow at the opposite. This conical figure is given in order that it may not roll off the shelving place of its deposit, its only motion being, as is evident, within a circle of its own length in diameter. The plumage is fine, thick, and close, and has a velvety appearance; it is totally impervious to water.

The FOOLISH GUILLEMOT, (Uria Troile,) or WILLOCK, as it is often called, is one of the commonest birds on our rocky coasts, and is spread over the arctic regions of both worlds; it abounds along the shores of the Baltic, but is perhaps nowhere more abundant than at the Needles in the Isle of Wight, and along the adjacent precipitous coast. Here it breeds in numerous flocks associated together, which hold their territory separate from the razor-bills and puffins which occupy neighbouring ledges. The shelves upon which the eggs are deposited are often very narrow and even sloping; and they are all laid together as close as possible, merely allowing room for each bird to sit upon her own egg, which is done in an upright position. Thus ranged in compact rows, the Guillemots live in social harmony, each intent upon her task. Nothing is there about them to justify the appellation foolish. When the young are hatched, which is not until a month from the commencement of incubation, they are abundantly supplied with sprats and small fish, till in the course of five or six weeks they are capable of taking to the water and fishing for themselves.

After the breeding season is over, the Guillemots leave the rocks and betake themselves entirely to the ocean, when the old birds undergo a moult, in which the black of the throat and sides of the neck is exchanged for white, the black being acquired the following spring. On the approach of winter, when the hordes of fishes which thronged our coast retire to southern latitudes, the Guillemot migrates in their train and visits the Mediterranean or the coasts of Italy, to feed upon the anchovy and