British Sea Birds (1896) Book

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IV. DIVERS, GREBES, AND CORMORANTS. Divers?Affinities and charac- necked Grebe ? Black - necked teristics?Great Northern Diver Grebe ? Sclavonian Grebe ? ?Black-throated Diver?Red- Little Grebe ? Cormorants ? throated Diver?Grebes?Char- Characteristics ? Changes of acteristics?Changes of Plumage Plumage?Cormorant?Shag? ?Great Crested Grebe?Red- Gannet. birds included in the present chapter l belong to three well-defined families. None of them are so completely pelagic as the Auks, and yet, according to season, many of them are interesting features in the bird-life of the coast. Uufortunately for the summer visitor to the seaside, the Divers will be absent. They are birds that resort chiefly to inland districts to rear their young, or are only known as winter visitors to the British Coasts. The Divers form a small but well-marked family known as Colymbide, consisting of a single genus Cofymbus, into which are grouped the four species that are now known to science. The Divers are allied to the Auks on the one hand, to the Grebes on the other, although systematists arenot yet agreed upon the degree of their relationship. United, these three families form Dr. Sclater's order Pygopodes. In every way the Divers are remarkably well fitted for an aquatic life. Their strong tarsi are laterally compressed, a form best suited for cleaving the water, the hind toe is well developed, and on the same plane as the rest, the feet are webbed, the bill is long, straight, spear-shaped and conical, admirably adapted for seizing the finny prey, the wings are comparatively short, yet capable of bearing the bird at great speed, the tail is short and fairly developed. The Divers in nuptial plumage are remarkably handsome birds, the neck being striped or richly marked, and the...Read More