94 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS 



and front of the long" slim neck and breast were brilliantly 

 white — slightly less pronounced in one than the other. 

 There was no sign of nuptial dress — no gorgeous tippets, 

 auricles, or any touch whatever of those bright colours 

 that, in summer, adorn all the grebes — save only a little 

 yellow on the beak. 



The grebes were on terms of close friendship with 

 their clumsier companion, the coot- — the contrast was 

 striking as the smarter birds sailed swiftly about, their 

 slim snake-like necks held stiff and erect as a pole-mast. 

 To solve this problem, I returned to Paston a few days 

 later, taking Graham with me. This time, only one grebe 

 was in sight — apparently the male — and both of us 

 were satisfied that no mistake had been made. The 

 scene is perpetuated in the beautiful drawing opposite, 

 for which grateful thanks are due to my friend, Mr 

 Charles Whymper. 



Such are the facts, and I leave the record that a 

 pair of Slavonian grebes, in full winter-dress, were fre- 

 quenting Paston lough at midsummer. The probable 

 solution is that grebes do not attain maturity in their 

 first year ; but even so, I can find no previous record of 

 Slavonian grebes in these islands in summer — whether 

 immature or otherwise. 



Young coots of the earlier broods had now acquired 

 the pure white throat and fore-neck ; their colours, in fact, 

 resembled those of the grebes, though the two differed 

 so widely in form. The younger coots still carried the 

 downy, orange-red head. 



Whitrigg bog, near St Boswells, is a notable resort 

 of shovelers. This is quite an extensive morass, a mile 

 or more of deep ooze, untraversable. Excepting a few 

 patches of open water along the centre, this bog in 



