Plate CCII. Male in summer, Male in winter, Female, and
Young.
Adult, in summer, with the bill bluish-black, the feet brownish-black,
anterior part of tarsus, upper surface of toes, and part of webs,
livid flesh-colour; fore part and sides of head, throat, and sides of
neck, bluish-grey; fore part of neck rich brownish-red; hind part of
head and hind neck longitudinally streaked with greenish-black and
pure white, each feather black in the middle, with the sides white,
the colours disposed in lines; upper parts in general brownish-black,
tinged with green, more or less mottled with white, according to age,
excepting the primary quills and the tail-feathers, of which there are
twenty; lower parts pure white, excepting the feathers on the sides
under the wings, some of those about the vent, and the lower
tail-coverts, which are greyish-brown, with white margins and tips.
Young, in winter, with the fore part of the neck white, or slightly
mottled with red; all the feathers of the upper parts with two white
spots near the end; tail-feathers edged and tipped with white. Young
at first covered with dense elastic down, of a greyish-black colour,
tinged with Brown.
_Male_, 19, 25. _Female_, 18, 24.
Not uncommon during winter, autumn, and early spring, from Maryland
eastward. Breeds in Newfoundland, Labrador, and as far north as the
Arctic Seas.
Colymbus septentrionalis, Bonap. Syn. p. 421.
Red-throated Diver, Colymbus septentrionalis, Swains. & Rich.
F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 476.
Red-throated Diver, Nutt. Man. v. ii. p. 519.
Red-throated Diver, Colymbus septentrionalis, Aud. Orn. Biog.
v. iii. p. 20; v. v. p. 625.
GENUS II. PODICEPS, Lath. GREBE.
Bill about the length of the head, or shorter, straight, rather stout,
much compressed, tapering, pointed; upper mandible with the dorsal
line declinate and more or less convex toward the end, the ridge
convex, the sides erect and somewhat convex, the edges sharp and
inflected, the tip narrow; nasal groove rather long, extending to
nearly half the length of the mandible, feathered at the base;
nostrils linear-elliptical, basal, rather small, pervious; lower
mandible with the angle long and extremely narrow, the dorsal line
ascending and straight, the sides erect and slightly convex, the edges
sharp and involute, the tip acute. Head of moderate size, oblong,
narrowed before; neck rather long and slender; body long, depressed.
Feet short, large, placed close to the extremity of the body; tibia
feathered to the joint; tarsus extremely compressed, its anterior edge
with a row of small scutella, the sides broadly scutellate, the
posterior ridge with a double row of small prominent scales; toes
four, first very small, with a posterior membrane, fourth longest, all
scutellate, the anterior connected at the base by membranes, and
having on both sides an expanded web-like margin, marked with oblique
lines. Claws flat, that of the third toe broadest. Plumage very soft
and blended, on the lower parts dusky. Wings small acute, curved, the
second primary longest, the first little shorter; secondaries short
and rounded. Tail a slight tuft of loose feathers, fourteen in number.
Tongue slender, trigonal, pointed; œsophagus of moderate width;
proventriculus very large, ovate; stomach extremely large, roundish,
its muscular coat thin; the epithelium thick, soft, rugous; a small
pyloric sac; intestine of moderate length and width; cœca rather
long, slender; cloaca very large, globular. Bronchi with the rings
entire and ossified.