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(Colymbus Arcticus, Linn.—Le Lumme, ou petit Plongeon de La Mer du Nord, Buff.)
THIS bird is somewhat larger than the Red-Throated 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, like the preceding, is common in all the Arctic regions, and but rarely visits England. It has the same disagreeable cries, which, in both kinds, are believed by the natives of Norway, the Orkney Isles, &c. to forebode 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, like the First Grey Speckled Diver's, was tipped with white, and its legs were marked like those of the second. It measured two feet two inches from the bill to the tail. *
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