204 British Birds, 



RED-THROATED J)lNY.-R—{Colv7nbus 

 septentrioiialis). 



Rain Goose, Cobble, Sprat-borer, Spratoon, Speckled 

 Diver. — The commonest and the smallest of the Divers, 

 and varying greatly in its plumage, according to age 

 and season. It breeds on the Scottish mainland, in 

 Shetland, in the Hebrides, and until lately, in the 

 Orkneys. The eggs are said to be always deposited 

 very near the water's edge. They are two in number, 

 of a greenish-brown colour, spotted with very dark 

 brown, but, as Mr. Yarrell states, when the ^gg has 

 been long sat upon, the brown ground-colour is apt to 

 assume a chestnut, or dark reddish-brown tint. 



FAMILY III.— PODICIPEDIDiE. 



GREAT CRESTED Q:KW>Y.—{Podiceps cristatus). 



Cargoose, Loon, Greater Loon, Tippet Grebe. — The 

 family of Grebes to be noticed now are to be looked 

 upon as principally, but not exclusively, frequenting 

 the fresh water. The bird now under notice remains 

 almost all the year on the large sheets of water which 

 it inhabits in Wales, Shropshire, Norfolk, and Lincoln- 

 shire. Like the rest of the Grebes, it is little able to 

 walk, and not much disposed to fly, but possessing 

 marvellous capacity and power of diving. Its nest is 

 made of a large heap of half rotten water weeds, but 

 little raised above the surface of the water, and always 

 soaked with wet. On this likely-seeming place for 

 duly addling every egg deposited, three, four, or five 



