GREAT CRESTED GREBE 



webbed. The bony palate of the skull and likewise the apertures of the 

 nostrils in the same are of similar type to those in the petrels ; that 

 is to say, the former is of the open, while the latter are of the oval type. 

 The nostrils themselves are pervious. The plumage is characterised 

 b>- the shortness and denseness of the feathers, which are furnished 

 with after-shafts ; and a marked difference from the two preceding 

 groups is to be found in the circumstance that the whole of the neck 

 bears feathers, instead of naked areas occurring on each side. As in 

 the petrels, the oil-gland 

 is tufted ; but the blind 

 appendages of the intes- 

 tine (caicaj are well de- 

 veloped, instead of being 

 rudimentar}' or absent. 

 A peculiar anatomical 

 feature of the group is 

 the great prolongation of 

 the front portion of the 

 upper extremity of the 

 second segment of the 

 leg, which forms a tri- 

 angular spine projecting 

 in front of the lower end 

 of the thigh bone and 

 affording great leverage 

 for the muscles used in 

 swimming and diving, 

 this being specially neces- 

 sary from the fact that 

 when diving these birds 

 impel themselves by the 



hind-limbs alone, never making use of their wings when under water 

 after the manner of petrels and auks. The hind border of the breast- 

 bone has only a single notch on each side. The grebes generally lay 

 from three to five eggs in a clutch, which are uniformly coloured and 

 coated with a chalky layer ; but the divers lay only two, which are 

 double-spotted. The down-clad young are able to swim as soon as 

 hatched. As regards distribution, the grebes have an almost world- 

 wide range, but the divers, or loons, are restricted to the colder portions 

 of the northern hemisphere. 



All the members of the grebe-family, or Podicipedidae, are easily 



GREAT CRESTED GREBE (FEMALE IN SUMMER). 



