in Switzerland, where it is known by the name of Fluder. He says, "it makes its nest among the reeds and flags, and places it in the water; so that it is continually wet, as in some of the Grebe genus. It utters a loud shrill cry." He adds that it is "sometimes taken twenty yards deep under water, viz. with a net or iron hook baited with a fish" and Buffon also asserts, that "it dives to very great depths, and swims under water to the distance of an hundred paces without ascending to take breath: a portion of air included in its dilated wind-pipe supplies its respiration during this interval."

"BILL black and horn colour, tinged with blue, three inches long, pointed and slender: nostrils very near the base: tongue pointed: crown of the head, and back of the neck, mouse-colour: irides brown: scapulars, back, rump, tail, and wings, black, edged with grey: quill feathers black: tail very short and rounded. The whole under side of the body, from the throat to the tail, silvery white, except a brown bar which crosses the vent: inner coverts of the wings white: legs remarkably flat, and placed close to the tail; they are black and grey, with a blue tinge: the feet are very large, webs entire and flesh

colour. Length two feet one inch; extent of the wings three feet two inches: weight three pounds eight ounces. This bird was shot on Windermere Lake, in Westmoreland, in December, 1794."

This work is indebted for the above drawing and description, to Geo. Strickland, Esq. of Ripon, who further adds," As this species of the Colymbus much resembles the Imber in the colour of its plumage, I have given it the name of the Lesser Imber, as in weight and size it is one third less. I have not met with any description of it, and the specimen now in my possession is the only one I have seen."

SPRAT LOON, GREATEST-TAILED DIVER, OR SPECKLED

LOON.

(Golymbus stellatus, Lin.-Le petit Plongeon, Buff.)

THIS species generally weighs about two pounds and a half, and somewhat exceeds two feet in length, and three and a half in breadth. The bill is three inches long, of

a light colour, and has rather a cast upwards: the crown of the head and the upper parts of the body are dusky, inclining to grey; and, excepting the hinder part of the neck, lesser coverts and quills, which are plain, the rest of the plumage is speckled all over with small white spots; those on the scapulars and middle wing coverts are the largest, and marked more distinctly on the margins of each feather, near to their tips. The fore part of the neck is of an ash colour: cheeks, chin, throat, and under parts, of a glossy white: tail tipped with white: legs and toes dusky; webs pale.

The natural habits of the Speckled Diver are much the same as those of the kinds before described, but it seems still more to shun the rigours of the north, and remains longer in the temperate climates. In the winter season it keeps its route southward, and is then met with in the Baltic, the German ocean, and on various parts of the British shores. In the spring it retires northward to the lakes of the continent, and the islands within the arctic circle, to breed and rear its young. The female makes her nest in the grass, near the edge of the water, and lays two eggs of a longish oval shape, larger than those of a Hen: they are of a dingy stone colour, spotted with black.

The foregoing figure was done from a stuffed specimen.

THE length of this bird, to the end of the tail, is two feet four inches, and rather more to the end of the longest or outside toe; the extended wings are three feet four inches, from tip to tip; and it weighs three pounds and a quarter. The bill, from the tip to the brow, is two inches and an eighth, and a little more than three inches to the corners of the mouth: both mandibles are white, faintly blushed with a livid or purple cast, except on the ridge of the upper one, where it is of a dark horn colour, fading off lighter towards the tip, which is entirely white: the irides are of a clear brown. The head and hinder part of the neck have a hoary dark ash-coloured appearance, at a little distance, but on a nearer view, the feathers on the crown and brow, which are very small, are dark in the middle, and distinctly edged with light grey: those from the nape downwards are larger, but the edges are less defined. The sides of the mouth, about the eyes, also the cheeks and throat, are white, but are partially dulled or freckled by a mixture of numerous small brownish ash-coloured spots: the fore part of the neck is