PYQOPODES. 365 



differs in any way from the "Western form except in size. The 

 Western form varies in length of wing from the carpal joint from 6'3 

 to 7 inches, and the Eastern form from 7*3 to 8 inches ; and the 

 former varies in length of bill from the frontal feathers from 1"4 to 

 1'6 inches, and the latter from 1"65 to 2'2 inches. 



I have an example of the Eastern form of the Red-necked Grebe, 

 collected by Captain Blakiston at Hakodadi in January, and which 

 I erroneously identified as Podiceps cristatus * (Seebohm, Ibis, 1882, 

 p. 369), as Temminck appears to have done in 1840 (Temminck, Man. 

 d^Orn. iv. p. 448). There is an example in winter plumage in the 

 Pryer collection from Yokohama. The examples figured in the 

 ' Fauna Japonica ' were probably obtained near Nagasaki. 



The Red-necked Grebe is almost a circumpolar bird, but European 

 and West- Asiatic examples are not quite so large as those from East 

 Asia and America. The Eastern form breeds in the valley of the 

 Amoor, in Kamtschatka, and across Alaska and British North 

 America to Greenland. It can only be regarded as subspecifically 

 distinct from its Western ally, and must bear the name of Podiceps 

 rubricollis major, given to it by Temminck and Schlegel about 1847. 



♦ PODICEPS CRISTATUS. 



(Great Crested Grebe.) 

 Colymbus aistatus, Linneus, Syst. Nat. i. p. 222 (17G6). 



The Great Crested Grebe differs from its allies at all seasons in having nearly 

 white lores. 



Figures : Gould, Birds of Great Britain, v. pi. 38 ; Dresser, Birds of Europe, viii. 

 pi. 629. 



The occurrence of the Great Crested Grebe in Japan rests on very poor authority. 

 It was not mentioned in Temminck and Schlegel's ' Fauna Japonica,' but was 

 recorded from Japan in 1840 (Temminck, Man. d'Orn. iv. p. 448). The statement 

 (Seebohm, Ibis, 1882, p. 369) that a skin from Hakodadi in winter plumage was 

 correctly identified, was a blunder. It is a skin of P. rubricollis holbcelli, as were 

 probably also the two examples previously recorded from the same locality 

 (Whitely, Ibis, 1867, p. 208), inasmuch as a reference is given to the ' Fauna 

 Japonica,' which relates to that species, and not to the Great Crested Grebe. 

 There are, however, undoubted examples in the Swinhoe collection from Amoy 

 and Ningpo, so that its occurrence in Japan is by no means improbable. 



The breeding-range of the Great Crested Grebe is very extensive, reaching from 

 the British Islands across Europe to South Africa, India, Australia, and New 

 Zealand. 



