312 THE KIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



Slavonian Grebe. Podiceps anritus (Linn.). 



The B.O.U. Committee make a great mistake in trying to 

 make the Enghsh name of the Slavonian Grebe (Plate 135) 

 agree with the specific name ; Eared Grebe has long been 

 associated with the next species ; Horned Grebe is the only 

 accepted alternative. This bird has a northern range in 

 Europe, Asia, and America, and it reaches the Mediterranean 

 and Gulf of Mexico in winter. There is some evidence that 

 the bird has nested in the Outer Hebrides and elsewhere, and 

 proof from one Scottish locality, where in the year that the nest 

 was discovered a bird was shot, and in the following year eggs 

 were robbed by collectors. As a winter visitor and passage 

 migrant the Horned Grebe is regular on most coasts, even in 

 the west and south ; inland, too, it is so frequently noticed on 

 some waters that the old " storm-driven " idea must be rejected. 



The Slavonian Grebe likes calm water, cither inland or in 

 estuaries and sheltered bays. There it swims, rather high in 

 the water, with the neck straight, and, if uneasy, nervously 

 glancing right and left. The erectile horns are tufts of huffish 

 chestnut feathers, extending from the eye and projecting above 

 the nape ; they are darker than the tufts of the Eared Grebe 

 and are not splayed out ; there is also, in summer, a frill or 

 ruff, but it is shorter and less noticeable than that of the Great 

 Grested Grebe. The lower neck of this species is deep chest- 

 nut, in the Eared it is black, but the two look about the same 

 size, and when the summer characters are lost are difficult to 

 distinguish. Both appear black and white on the water, but 

 the bill of the first is stout, and the upper mandible curves down 

 towards the tip, whereas in the Eared Grebe it is slender and 

 has a slight upward tilt. A Horned Grebe in the hand may be 

 told by the absence of white on the primaries. A few birds 

 appear late in August, and passage continues until November ; 

 from April to June northward movements are in progress, but 



