724 BLACK-NECKED OR EARED GREBE. 



Ireland two examples in full plumage have been obtained in June, 

 and a few birds appear to have been met with during the colder 

 months. 



The Black-necked Grebe is merely a wanderer to the southern 

 portions of Scandinavia ; but Benzon assured Mr. Dresser that 

 it bred regularly near Thy, in the north-west of Jutland, and 

 Mr. Hartert says that it nests freely in East Prussia. Southward 

 it breeds in suitable localities throughout the greater part of Europe, 

 becoming abundant in the countries bordering the Mediterranean and 

 Black Seas ; while it is even more plentiful in North Africa, whence 

 it ranges southward to the Cape. In Asia it is widely distributed 

 over the temperate regions, as far east as the Pacific and down to 

 about 2 2""' N. lat. in winter. In North America it is represented by 

 the closely-allied /'. califoniicus, which has hardly any white on the 

 innermost primaries or the outer secondaries. Neither species is 

 found in Greenland. 



Canon Tristram found this Grebe on Lake Halloula in Algeria, 

 "in societies more densely crowded than any rookery"; the nests 

 being " raised on artificial islets, frequently almost touching each 

 other, and sometimes piled on stout foundations rising from more 

 than a yard under water." Benzon states that in Denmark the nests 

 he saw were not floating amongst the reeds, but were on tussocks 

 at the edge of the lake, though in places where the water was deep 

 and clear; they were made chiefly of "moss," and with this the 

 female covers up her eggs on leaving them. These, up to 5 in 

 number, are yellowish-white when laid, but afterwards become 

 brown, owing to stains: measurements i'65 by t"i5 in. The note 

 is described by Naumann as a soft beeb or — in the pairing season — • 

 a reiterated bidder-, the food consists of fish, crustaceans, coleopterous 

 insects &c. The late Mr. Gatcombe told me that he had seen this 

 and other Grebes dive when in deep water with a leap, as a Shag does. 



The adult male in breeding-plumage — assumed in March — has 

 the head and neck black, with a triangular patch of long hair-like 

 feathers of a golden chestnut-colour on the ear-coverts ; upper parts 

 dark brown ; secondaries almost entirely white to their tips, while 

 there is also a great deal of white on the four inner primaries; 

 breast and belly white, flanks dull chestnut ; bill black, upcurved in 

 front of the angle. Length 1 2 in. ; wing 5 in. The female is 

 rather smaller. After the autumn moult the ear-tufts and black on 

 the throat are lost, only a dusky band remaining on the latter ; the 

 plumage of the young resembles that of the adults in winter. 



I 



