BRITAIN'S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 17 



Islands. This it does in the north and north-west Hiffh- 

 lands and in some of the Scottish isles, but much less 

 commonly than its smaller relative. Its choice of haunts 

 and its general and nesting habits are very similar to those of 

 its ally, and the eggs differ little except that they are larger. 

 The bird, too, is bigger than the Red-throated Diver, and, 

 among other peculiarities, has, in breeding plumage, a 

 black throat with white spots and stripes. The beaks of 

 the two species are easily distinguishable, the Red-throated 

 Diver's being perceptibly upturned ; the other's never in 

 the least so. The still larger Great Northern Diver takes 

 second place in commonness as a winter visitor ; but it does 

 not remain to nest, although it viay do so exceptionally. 

 Its close ally, the White-billed Northern Diver, a rare 

 wanderer to our coasts, is the only other member of this 

 small family. 



Family, PODICIPEDID^ (Grebes). 



THE GREAT CRESTED GREBE 



(Podicipes cristatus). 



Plate 6. 



Like the Divers are their near allies the Grebes, and 

 some of these are fairly familiar British birds. The 

 largest and handsomest species is the true Grebe, the 

 Great Crested Grebe of ornithologists. Scarcely inferior 

 in size to the Red-Throated Diver, this Grebe is a con- 

 siderably more graceful and less cumbrous bird, although 

 built on very similar lines. Its flight is of the same 

 order, and its proficiency in the water is as great. Grebes 

 and Divers, it may be mentioned, share the backward 

 position of the legs, the laterally compressed 'shank,' the 



