300 WILD-FOWL AND SEA-FOWL OF GREAT BRITAIN 



eiven. The adults are described in their summer 

 plumage (nesting plumage), the young in their first 

 winter plumage. To give the intermediate changes 

 would take up too much space in a work of this 

 kind. 



THE GREAT CRESTED GREBE. 



{Podicipes crisiatus.) 



Male. — The bill is two inches in length and 

 carmine-coloured, the ridge dusky, the tips yellowish- 

 grey ; iris carmine. A bare dull green space runs 

 from the eye to the mouth. The upper part of the 

 head and occipital tufts are greyish-black with a 

 tinge of green ; the ruff reddish-brown in front, and 

 greyish-black behind. From the upper mandible 

 over the eye is a band of reddish-white ; a part of 

 the throat and cheeks is white below the ruff; the 

 fore-part of the neck is white, with a tinge of brown 

 on the sides. The hind-parts are blackish-grey. 

 The upper parts are greyish-black, with a brown 

 tinge. In the front edge of the wing all the humeral 

 feathers, and nearly all the secondary quills, are 

 white ; the lower parts of the body silvery white. 

 The legs are dusky green externally, greenish- 

 yellow internally ; the toes are greenish-yellow 

 above and dusky below, also dusky towards the 

 margins. The length, from bill to end of tail, is 

 twenty-three inches. 



Female. — Smaller, and has the occipital tufts and 

 ruff shorter, but similar in other respects. Length, 

 from bill to end of tail, nineteen inches. 



