COLYMBIFORMES CHAP. 
oat 
iS) 
to a considerable distance, then both parents swim towards the 
intruder with the body partly submerged, and finally, if thoroughly 
scared, they rise heavily on the wing to circle round with out- 
stretched neck before betaking themselves with rapid but laboured 
flight to some neighbouring lake, from which they return at 
intervals until the coast is clear. They descend from aloft 
noisily and with great impetus, the splashing plunge being fol- 
lowed by a gliding movement, leaving a broad furrow behind, 
while on land they move with difticulty, and rest on the 
metatarsus. Their croak, or loud, clear, melancholy cry is often 
heard before storms, whence the Red-throated Diver is called 
“Rain-goose” in Scotland; the food consists chiefly of fish, brought 
to the surface and swallowed with a jerk, but crustaceans, molluscs, 
and perhaps aquatic insects vary the diet. The young take to the 
water readily, but the female occasionally carries them on her back. 
Both Divers and Grebes swim strongly, the flat of the meta- 
tarsus meeting the water during the back stroke, and the thin 
edge on the return. When submerged they do not use the pinions. 
Fam. II. In the Podicipedidae both sexes are mainly dusky 
brown or blackish grey above, and silvery white below, often with 
some white on the wing; so it will only be necessary to note 
hereafter the distinctive ornaments or bright colours which 
Fic. 16.—Little Grebe. Podicipes fluviatilis. x 4. 
are invariably lost in winter. Podicipes fluviatilis, the Little Grebe 
or Dabchick, ranging over Europe, Africa, and Asia to the Malay 
Countries and North Australia, has rich chestnut cheeks, throat, 
and sides of the neck, horn-coloured bill, and greenish feet. In 
winter the chestnut fades to buff with a white chin. Count 
~ A . 1 Ls . . » . er . 
Salvadori * considers P. gularis of Australia and Papuasia and 
1 Ornitologia Papuasia e Molucche, iii. Torino, 1882, pp. 469-471; cf. also 
Sharpe, Bull. Ornith. Club, iv. 1894, p. iv. 
