CRESTED GREB£, OR GAUNT, 251 



breast white; sides of the head reddish, a flat occipital tufl and a 

 broad ruff on each side of the neck, black. Young dull colored, 

 obscurely spotted, and destitute of the ornamental feathers. 



The Crested Grebe, inhabiting the northern parts of both 

 the old and new continents, is met with in Iceland, north- 

 ern Europe, and the cold, as well as temperate parts of Si- 

 beria ; in winter passing south as far as Italy, and along the 

 coasts of the Mediterranean. In America, they are found 

 in all the secluded reedy lakes of the mountainous and 

 woody districts, in the remote fur countries around Hudson's 

 Bay. This species is also common in some parts of Eng- 

 land, where it is known by the provincial name of Cargoose, 

 or Gaunt. They breed in the meres of Shropshire and 

 Cheshire, and in the eastern fen of Lincolnshire. They 

 also pass the period of reproduction in some of the Scottish 

 Isles, particularly in Zetland, and are abundant in Ger- 

 many, Holland, and France. In the United States they are 

 only seen in winter, proceeding leisurely towards the south, 

 as the severity of the season increases, often migrating by 

 water, rather than on the wing, and keeping generally at 

 no great distance from the sea, or tide-water estuaries, thus 

 securing their retreat from the surprise of sudden and 

 severe frost. 



The nest of the Crested Grebe, concealed amono- the 

 reeds and flags of the ponds, in which they dwell in the 

 summer, is made of rushes, and the coarse aquatic herbage 

 contiguous to the chosen spot, and so constructed as often 

 to float about on the rise of the surrounding w ater which 

 penetrates it, notwithstanding which, the female still sits 

 steadfastly on the floating habitation, defended securely from 

 the access of the water, by the density of her oily and 

 downy plumage. The eggs, 3 or 4, are of a whitish-green, 

 waved, or, as it were, soiled with deep brown. The young 

 are fed sometimes with small eels, and fry ; and according 



