pODicipiDj;. 821 



with tufts ; the young are striped black and white. The Grebes 

 have 19 cervical vertebrae, whilst the Loons have only 13. The 

 sternum is said to be very short, wide posteriorly, with one 

 deep oval notch, but Owen states that some Grebes have two 

 lateral fissures to the Sternum, and a few even a third, smaller and 

 intermediate to the other two. They have a projecting process to 

 the tibia like the last. They are found frequently to have swallow- 

 ed feathers, but Avith what object is not known. They possess a 

 single small caecum. Pallas states that they want the uropygial 

 gland, but that an oily matter, (tlielr skin being very fat,) transudes 

 through their skins, rendering the feathers very oily. The eggs 

 are said to have the shell covered with a soft absorbent chalky 

 substance. There is only one genus, which has however been lately 

 sub-divided. 



Gen. PoDiCEPS, Latham. 



Char. — Bill straight, compressed, moderately stout ; nostrils 

 oblong, lateral ; wings short, concave ; tarsus moderate, compress- 

 ed, with large scutella^, serrated posteriorly ; hallux bordered by a 

 web ; claws fiat, depressed. 



Of universal distribution. 



974. Podiceps cristatus, Linnteus. 



Colymbus apud LiNNiEUS — Blyth, Cat. 1812 — Gould, Birds 

 of Europe, pi. 388. 



. The Crested Grebe. 



Descr. — Head (with a double occipital crest) shining black, 

 which colour descends along the back of the neck ; lower neck 

 above ashy-brown; back and wings, including scapulars and middle- 

 coverts, brown with a blackish-green lustre ; lesser wing-coverts 

 and secondaries white ; cheeks and throat fulvous-white, succeeded 

 by a wide frieze or collar, chesnut above, shining black below ; 

 lower neck, breast, and abdomen silky -white, tinged with rufous 

 and ashy on the sides of the breast and abdomen. 



Bill brown above, reddish on the sides and below, tip white ; 

 irides crimson-red ; naked lores red ; feet plumbeous externally. 



