poDiciPKs .'589 



From Dr. Lonsdale Holden's notes, made while resident at Circular Head, on the north- 

 western coast of Tasmania, I extract the following : — " On the i8th June, 1898, I saw a Hoary- 

 headed Grebe (Podkcps ncstoy) swimming and diving in the sea close to Circular Head Wharf, 

 and saw a pair further seaward at the base of the Bluff a week ago." Writing on the 30th 

 September, Dr. Holden remarked : — " I have seen numbers on the bays and inlets during the 

 past four months, and several specimens liave been sent to me from Stanley and Table Cape. 

 They have also been reported to me from Montague and the west coast lagoons. From what 

 residents say there seems to have been an invasion of these birds to this locality. People there 

 declare they have never seen this species before. On the 27th May, igoo, I watched a llock of 

 sixteen close to the jetty at Port lisperance ; they eventually flew higher up the bay. They 

 fly straight on end and keep close to the water, and their wings beat rapidly and readily." 



The nest, built usually on still water, is a rounded and flattened floating structure, formed 

 of various aquatic weeds and herbage, and is attached here and there to reeds or thin twigs of 

 some fallen branch, the eggs being deposited in a small saucer-shaped cavity in the top, only a 

 few inches above the surface of the water. When the female is sitting she covers her body with 

 the outer weeds of which the nest is formed, and again, wlien she lea\'es her eggs, covers them 

 up preparatory to diving and reappearing some distance away. 



The eggs are usually five, occasionally six, in number for a sitting, ellipses in form, the dull 

 bluish-white shell being more or less covered witli white lime, which soon becomes nest stained. 

 They may be found from pale bluish-white, when first laid, to all shades of brown, according to 

 the length of time they have lieen laid. Of course the added colours depend greatly on the 

 vegetable material of which the nest is formed ; in some I have seen it a blackish-brown, but as 

 a rule they are of a shade of brown and vary to rich reddish-brown just before they are hatched. 

 A set of live taken by Mr. C. Watson, on Yandembah Station, near Mossgiel, New South Wales, 

 on the 30th November, 1892, measures: — Length (A) i'5g x I'l inches; (B) i-6i x i-og 

 inches; (C) i'65 x i-og inches; (P>) rf)^ x 1-12 inches; (E) i-jg x I'li inches. 



In Lastern Australia ()ctober and the three following months constitute the usual breeding 

 season, but doubtless, like I'odiapcs iiovir-I/ollauduc, it may breed again during the autumn. In 

 Western Australia Mr. G. A. Keartland noted adults, accompanied by their young, at Lake 

 Way, in August, 1896. 



Podicipes cristatus. 



TIPPET (iREBE. 



Colijinbn^ cristatus, Linn., 8yst. Nat., Tom. I., p. "222 (1766). 



Fodiceps aiistrnlis, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc, 1844, p. 135; id., lids. Au.str., fol. V^ol. VII., pi. 80 

 (1848): id., HaniU.k. Bd.s. Austr , Vol. IT., p. .511 (1865). 



Podicipes cristaf.ns, Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Bds. Brit. Mu.s., Vol. XXVf., p. 544 (189S). 



Adui.t male, in breeding plumage. — (ieneral coIdhv nhove dark ashydirotvu, : primnrifs and 

 inwrmost secondaries dark nsliy-hruwu ; remaindi'r of tlu>. si-condaries, lesser upper iriiKj-cocerts and 

 shoulders inhite ; the median and greiiler-corerls like the back ; forehead, croivu of the head, lengthened 

 and occipital tufts at either side rich bnurnish-bhick, uilh a grei/ish gloss on the forehead ; feathers 

 in front of and behind the eye, cheeks, chin and thy oat irhite, gradually passing into rich chestnut 

 on the posterior portion of the sides of the head and black on the upper part of the neck ; sides of 

 neck pale ashy-brou^n, centre of neck and all the under surface pure white ; /tanks pale ashy-broivn ; 

 98 



