(Colymbus Arcticus, Linn.-Plongeon lumme, ou ä gorge noire, Temm.)

THIS bird is somewhat larger than the Redthroated Diver, from which it differs in plumage. The bill is black, and measures about two inches from the tip to the feathers at the base; the chin, cheeks, and throat are of a sooty black; a few narrow streaks of white cover the gullet; the fore part of the head is dusky, tinged with ash, and fades to a lighter colour as it is continued down the hinder part of the neck, where it assumes a dirty light ash; this is boundered its whole length on each side by longitudinal spots, disposed in streaks of black and white; the front of the neck is black, with a purple gloss, which, branching backwards, falls down towards the hinder part, and joins the

scapulars: the feathers on the sides of the breast are like those on the sides of the neck; the upper parts of the plumage are glossy black, barred on the shoulders and scapulars with oblong square white spots; the wing coverts are sprinkled over with smaller roundish ones, the under parts are white; quills dusky; tail black; legs dark, and reddish on the inside.

The Black-throated Diver is found in the arctic regions, and visits England during the winter months. It has the same disagreeable cries which, in both kinds, are believed by the natives of Norway, the Orkney Isles, &c., to forbode heavy rains or bad weather. Their skins are dressed, and made into caps, hoods, &c., and are much esteemed as a covering for the head and breast in the rigorous climates in which these birds are found, the great thickness of the feathers rendering them very fit for that purpose.

A bird supposed to be of this species, was caught in the month of March, in a pool near Dukesfield, Northumberland, and presented to the author, by Mr. Thomas Crawhall: it wanted the black patch on the throat; its tail was tipped with white, and its legs were marked like those of the immature Red-throated Diver. It measured two feet two inches from the bill to the tail.*

* We have to acknowledge our obligation to Mr. Benjamin Leadbeater, for the loan of a dried skin of this prettily marked bird, satisfied that he has done all in his power to furnish specimens (in this and other instances) enabling us to make correct likenesses; although the pencil might be said to be itching for a single peep at a living subject of this interesting depredator on the finny tribes.

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 wing 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.

RED-THROATED LOON, OR RAIN GOOSE.

(Colymbus Septentrionalis, Linn.-Plongeon cat-marin, ou á gorge rouge, Temm.)

THIS bird measures three feet five inches in breadth, two feet to the end of the tail, and four inches more to the end of the toes, and weighs nearly three pounds. The bill is dark coloured; irides reddish: the head, chin, and sides of the neck are of a spotless or plain dusty lead-coloured blue: the upper fore part of the neck, to the throat, is of a deep red bay: the hinder part of the neck from the nape towards the shoulders and sides of the breast, is streaked downwards with dusky and white, and formed into curious ridges, by the white edges and tips of the feathers standing outwards. The upper parts of the plumage in some specimens are of a greyish dusky colour, in others of a shining deep brown, and in both thinly sprinkled all over with white spots, which on the coverts and scapulars 3 с

VOL. II.