June 1838), Mr. Hyndman observed one of these birds, perhaps the same individual, very near the shore here. The Rev. G. M. Black frequently sees the great northern diver, during winter, in the sea off Annalong, at the base of the mountains of Mourne. Some of the birds are in mature plumage. They appear to have favourite haunts, as he has observed what was believed to be the same bird, week after week in the same place. He has sometimes seen them take to wing.

Mr. J. V. Stewart, in his published list of the Birds, &c. of Donegal,' remarks:-" From Colymbus glacialis and Immer being very common in this county, where they arrive the first week in October, I have had good opportunities of observing them. *** I have every season been able to procure a number of both, and have thus been enabled to select for my museum an uninterrupted succession, proving, by almost imperceptible changes, the transition from Immer to C. glacialis: the former of these, in the early part of their residence here, is much the more common, but towards the end of spring, when they leave this country, the number of the latter is greatly increased, and though, even at that period, they have not attained the perfect plumage of that bird, yet, the completion of the white spots on the back, and the black bands on the neck, though not yet quite perfect, are sufficient to characterize the bird in such a manner that it cannot be mistaken. These birds appear to vary much in size and weight; they generally measure, from the tip of the beak to the end of the tail, two feet nine inches, and weigh about nine pounds; but I lately got a specimen, in the plumage of Immer, measuring only two feet four inches, and weighing but six pounds; and as I can perceive no difference in its bill from that of C. glacialis, I am forced, in following the indications of Temminck, to consider it as that bird, though its diminutive size would have led me to consider it as the young of C. arcticus, which I have not yet ascertained in this country. That these birds are well able to fly, I have had frequent proofs; but not so as to their pedestrian capabilities. One` which I got alive and uninjured, on being placed within a few yards of the water, when I was setting it at liberty, remained on

its breast wistfully looking at that element in which it was accustomed and wished to move, but appeared quite incapable of transferring itself to it, and, though placed repeatedly upright, it always fell down again on its breast. It was only at length emancipated from this helpless state by being placed close to the edge of the water, when, pushing itself along with its wings and feet, it got afloat, and joyfully diving, bid us a long adieu. The mode in which the toes are jointed with the tarsus prevents their being bent forward out of its line; and the great sharpness, posteriorly, of that member, renders it almost impossible for it to walk; and this trial of its powers would seem to indicate that it can only rise on its wing from the water. I therefore think it must hatch on low islets, from which, without much exertion of its feet, it could launch itself."*

In October 1840, I was shown, at Florence Court, an adult bird of this species, which had been killed by the blow of a stone in a mountain rivulet of that neighbourhood, two months after the great hurricane of January 1839;-the taxidermist remarked that there was no indication of its having been previously wounded. It was presented by the Hon. John L. Cole to the Belfast Museum. On the day after that hurricane, one was shot in a dock at Ringsend, Dublin. After a gale in March, 1844, a great northern diver was obtained on the river Lagan, above the bridges which span it near Belfast. The species apparently sometimes leaves the coast, by choice, for fresh water, as I have seen a fine adult bird, in the highest condition, which was shot on Lough Neagh. One has been killed at Ballibrado, near Cahir, Tipperary. In May 1830, a pair of these divers, both adult, frequented Lough Fea, county Monaghan, where they were observed for some time by Robert Evatt, Esq., of Mount Louise.

From the length of time that this species is in attaining full plumage, by far the greater number of birds killed are immature, but a fair proportion of adult birds relatively to them, visits the coast of Ireland.

* Loudon's Magazine of Nat. Hist.' vol. v. p. 585. 1832.

Mr. R. Ball, in mentioning to me that two fresh specimens of this bird had been brought to him in Dublin on the 23rd of December, 1844, remarked, that in the throat of one were the body (without the claws) of a large shore-crab (Carcinus mœnas), and two razor-fish (Solen siliqua). The stomach of one of these divers, killed near Holywood, Belfast Bay, that came under my own notice, contained the bodies of two crabs, a Carcinus, and one of the larger species of Portunus, each of middle size.

The great northern diver has already been incidentally alluded to as occurring on various parts of the coast. It is a regular winter visitant in the south, as well as in the north. Two of my correspondents mention immature birds as not uncommon every winter on the coast of Waterford and Cork, though one adult bird only had come under the notice of either of them there.* On the 24th of May, 1842, a female, in at least the next stage to maturity, the back being quite perfect, and nearly all the dark neckcollar likewise so, was shot off Dungarvan in the former county. "It contained no eggs larger than snipe shot, except two, the size of swan drop."+ At Glengariff, Bantry Bay, they are sometimes seen until April ;‡ about Tralee, three or four adult birds. have been obtained, one of which was captured in a lobster-pot§: -in the bay there, two, in the plumage of the imber, were seen and one of them shot, late in the month of May 1850.|| On the Galway coast, about Roundstone, they are considered rare. ¶A fine adult bird taken in the nets of E. J. Cooper, Esq., Markree Castle, county Sligo, on the 4th of June, 1850, was sent to the University Museum, Dublin. The species is generally dispersed around the coast, though in much less numbers than the redthroated diver.

I ascertained, when at Islay, in January 1849, that the great northern, as well as the red-throated diver, are regular winter visitants :-I saw some of the latter species.

* Dr. J. R. Harvey, June 1848.

Mr. G. Jackson.

Mr. Robert D. Fitzgerald, jun., Tralee.

+ Mr. R. Davis, jun.

§ Mr. R. Chute.

¶ Mr. W. M'Calla.

In a lecture on native birds, delivered some years ago by Mr. R. Ball, in Dublin, he stated, that a great northern diver, shot on the Irish coast, and in the possession of Sir Philip Crampton, Bart., was found, when killed, to have an arrow headed with copper, sticking through its neck. He remarked that the bird had probably been struck with this arrow by an Esquimaux on the Coppermine river, and was indicative of the extensive flight of the species.

The 'Penny Magazine' for August 1839 (p. 319) contains an original and interesting article on the mode of hunting this diver in North America. Audubon gives a very full account of the bird, in the fourth volume of his 'Ornithological Biography,' p. 43.

THE BLACK-THROATED DIVER.

Lesser Imber (young).

Colymbus arcticus, Linn.

Is extremely rare.

A SPECIMEN of this bird, which I recorded in the 'Zoological Proceedings' for 1837 (p. 54), was obtained with two other Colymbi (C. septentrionalis) in Larne Lough at the end of December 1831, by Dr. J. D. Marshall, who remarked that they were very tame compared with brent geese, cormorants, and other sea-fowl. The following notes were made on this bird after its being preserved :-Length (total) 25 inches; of wing from carpus to point of quills, 10 in.; of bill from rictus to point, 3 in.; of tarsus, 2 in.; of middle toe and nail, 3 in. Sides of the neck marked with dark longitudinal striæ, which likewise appear, but fewer in number, in front of the neck; throat pure white. The only difference between this specimen and descriptions of C. arcticus in the first year, is, that the base of its lower mandible appears channelled, and might perhaps be called thickened in the middle, though most obscurely so. The bill in profile is just that

of C. arcticus, and, therefore, strikingly different from any specimens of C. septentrionalis examined by me. I was informed in November 1837, that about four years previous to that time, a bird agreeing with C. arcticus in full plumage was taken at Lurgan Green, county of Louth.* On the 5th of March, 1847, H. Bell, wild-fowl shooter, saw one of these divers in full adult plumage on wing in Strangford Lough; he described it as the most beautiful bird he had ever beheld. One is stated to have been shot in the winter of 1847-48 in Dublin Bay.†‡

Mr. R. D. Fitzgerald, jun., on the 23rd of July, 1850, passed within a few yards of three birds swimming in Tralee Bay, that he considered to be a black-throated diver with its two young. One of these he shot, was hardly more than fledged, and had no quill feathers, but merely down in place of them. From its appearance he believed that it must have been bred in that neighbourhood. "It agreed with the young C. arcticus of Selby and the Lesser Imber, considered by him as the same."

This species, so extremely handsome when adult, appears to be more rare in Ireland, in winter, than in England or Scotland. Very interesting descriptions of its habits about its breeding-haunts in Scotland are given from personal observation in the works of Mr. Selby, Sir William Jardine, and Mr. St. John.§

* Mr. H. H. Dombrain.

+ Mr. R. J. Montgomery.

In the Report of the Dublin Nat. Hist. Society for 1841-42 (p. 8) one of these birds is mentioned as having been shot in Tralee Bay; but Mr. R. Chute, to whom the specimen referred to belongs, has informed me that he does not know where it was killed.

§ Wild Sports, &c. of the Highlands,' ch. xxvii. p. 215, and 'Tour in Sutherland,' vol. i. pp. 8, 12, 40. These pages are particularized, as there is no index to either work.