49 3 



GREAT CRESTED GREBE. Class II. 



line, and above that a white one : the hind part of 

 the neck, and the back are of a footy hue : the 

 rump, for it wants a tail, is covered with long foft 



down. 



The covert feathers on the fecond and third joints 

 of the wins, and the under coverts are white : all 

 the other wing feathers, except the fecondaries, are 

 dufky, thofe being white : the bread and belly are 

 of a rnoft beautiful filvery white, glofiy as iattin, 

 and equal in elegance to thofe of the Grebe of Ge- 

 neva -, and are applied to the fame ufes : the plu- 

 mage under the wings is dufky, blended with tawny : 

 the outfide of the legs, and the bottom of the feet 

 are dufky : the infide of the legs, and the toes 

 of a pale green. 



Thefe birds frequent the Meres of Shropjhire and 

 CheJJnre, where they breed ; and in the great Eqft 

 Fen in Lincoln/hire, where they are called Gaunts. 

 Their fkins are made into tippets, which are 

 fold at as high a price as thofe that come from Ge- 

 neva, 



This fpecies lays four eggs, white, and of the 

 fize of thofe of a pigeon-, the neft is formed of the 

 roots of bugbane, ftalks of water lilly, pond weed 

 and water violet, floating independent among the 

 reeds and flags •, the water penetrates it, and the 

 bird fits and hatches the eggs in that wet conditi- 

 on ; the neft is fometimes blown from among the 

 flags into the middle of the water : in thefe cir- 

 cumftances, the fable* of the Halcyon's neft, its 



fluclivaga 



