374 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



ever, by the wet water-weed with which each bird carefully covered 

 her eggs as we approached the nest. I watched three birds per- 

 form this manoeuvre through my binoculars. They slid ofl their 

 nests and rapidly picked up the floating weed, which they carefully 

 disposed over the eggs, so as completely to hide them from view. "We 

 examined some fifteen or twenty nests, each one of which was thus 

 covered. We never found more than three eggs in each nest, of a 

 dirty chalky texture : axis, 2"; diam., 17'". The bird feeds on small 

 fish and water-insects. 



692. PodicepS AuritUS. (Linn.) Lath. Edw. 

 Birds, t. 96, f. 2 ; Golymbus Auritus, Linn. ; The 

 Eared Grebe. 



General colour, greyish-black, tinged on the sides with 

 rufous ; beneath, from the centre of the breast to the vent, 

 satiny-white ; behind the eye, over the ear, a tuft of longish 

 reddish-yellow feathers ; patch on the wing white. Length, 

 13"; wing, 5" ; tail spurious. 



The Eared Grebe was unknown to me as an inhabitant of South 

 Africa until the year 1859, when, having an opportunity of visiting 

 Vogel Vley, in the Wellington district, I found it breeding in consi- 

 derable numbers amid the rushes that border portions of that lake. 

 Each pair seemed to keep guard over its special province, and never to 

 stray to any distance from the haunt. The nest was constructed of 

 sedge, and was a large compact structure ; the eggs, four or five in 

 number, are chalky-white. 



693. Podiceps Minor. (Gmei.) Lath. pi. Eni, 



905 ; Golymbus Minor, Linn. ; Golymbus Fluviatilis, 

 Bris. ; The Little Grebe, Bewick's Brit. Birds, p. 173. 



Upper parts, top of head, chin, and back of neck, greenish- 

 black ; rest of neck deep-rufous ; breast brownish-grey ; 

 flanks the same, tinged with rufous ; under parts satin}'-- 

 white ; all the plumage lustrous, and very dense, more like 

 hair than feathers ; eyebrow and tip of bill, clear horn- 

 coloured ; base, bright-green. Length, 10"; wing, 4"; tail 

 spurious. 



Not uncommon throughout the colony, frequenting still "reaches" 

 (here called '^ zeekoe gaten," seacow-holes in the rivers) and all the 

 vlcys. Young birds have been brought to me. I never knew the 

 nest to have been taken here ; but in Ceylon I have found those of au 

 allied species (P. Philli^jpensis), constructed of sedge, and closely re- 

 sembling those of P. Cristdtus in all but size — the eggs pointed at both 

 ends, and chalky while. 



The Sub-Family, HELIORNIN-ffi, or Sungrebes, 



have the bill long, straight, and compressed, with the tip 

 slightly curved and emarginated ; the gonj's of the lower 



