3l6 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



size as 17 by iT inches. In Wales they are laid early in May. 

 The nestling is ashy grey above and white below ; the neck 

 and head are streaked, there is a bare patch on the crown, and 

 the bill is lead-blue. At first the parents carry the young, 

 though they are often shaken off, and I saw one old bird 

 repeatedly duck a nestling, as if trying to induce it to dive ; 

 they will, when young, dive a little for food, and three in down 

 instinctively dived when a Black-headed Gull passed over. 



In summer the head, neck, breast, and back are glossy black, 

 and the wings have a greenish sheen ; the cheeks are crossed 

 by silky straw-coloured plumes ; the flanks are coppery chestnut, 

 and the under parts white. The male is distinctly larger and 

 has more pronounced ear-coverts. The bill is blue-black, 

 reddish at the base ; the legs are blackish green, and the irides 

 ruby-red. In winter the head often to below the level of the 

 eye, the back of the neck, and mantle are brownish black, and 

 the flanks are mottled with grey ; except for a dusky band on 

 the lower neck the under parts are white. In the young in 

 autumn the cheeks and necks are dusky, and the irides are 

 yellowish. A bird watched in spring was browner on the 

 flanks in the middle of March, early in April the cheeks 

 became dusky, and full plumage was attained in the third 

 week, but probably, as in all grebes, the date of assumption of 

 summer dress is variable. Length, 12 ins. Wing, 57 ins. 

 Tarsus, 1*5 ins. 



Little Grebe. Podkeps fluviatilis (Tunstall). 



Dabchick is a widely used name for the Little Grebe 

 (Plate 137), a familiar resident in most parts of the British Isles. 

 It ranges through central and southern Europe, a large part of 

 Asia, and northern Africa, and is partially migratory, though it 

 is likely that its frequent coUision with lighthouse lanterns is 

 due to nocturnal wandering rather than regular migration. 



