Note on Sea-birds

Extract

I am delighted with Mr Anderson's article in this number of the Journal (171–2) on the Greek names of sea-birds. Δυτῖνος is a rare word and it must refer to a bird diving from the surface like our divers, the commonest of which is our Little Grebe (Podiceps ruficulus), but of course the term could include all ducks. The name κολυμβίς could also be applied to all these birds but it need not be confined to them. The Greeks knew that terns dived from a height and said κηξ or καυάξ: Homer compares the bird to the lady, who fell into a hold (Od. xv 479).

There is a picture of two birds with plumage like that of Black-throated Divers or Great Northern Divers on a Middle Minoan mug found at Palaikastro near the sea in East Crete (Unpublished Objects 92 fig. 77: Zervos, Crete no. 742). One bird is diving from a rock, towards a root on the bottom, the other is standing on a stone opening its beak to give an alarm signal. It might be objected to this picture that divers do not dive from rocks, nor stand upright on stones; otherwise it is a good picture. According to the Guide to Birds of Britain and Europe, there appear to be two birds, but I can only find one Latin name: Colymbus Arcticus. In spite of its name the bird is known in Greek waters.