276 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



223. GREAT CRESTED GREBE. 



Podiceps cristatus. 



I have many records of the occurrence of this very 

 remarkable bird in Northamptonshire, including one 

 noted by Morton as the *' Grey or Ash-coloured 

 Loon of Doctor Brown," of which he writes : 

 " however it came to straggle so high into the 

 country, was gotten into Wapenham Lordship, and 

 there shot by one of Mr. Archdeacon Huttons 

 servants. The case of it I saw at the before- 

 mentioned gentleman's house at Wapenham " ; I 

 must admit that our author gives a reference con- 

 cerning this specimen to Willughby's ' Ornithology,' 

 and on consulting that work I find that it is possible, 

 though not I think probable, that the bird figured 

 under the designation above quoted may have been 

 of another species of Grebe. It would be tedious, 

 and is quite unnecessary, that I should detail the 

 many local occurrences of Great Crested Grebe that 

 have come to my knowledge ; but as there is no 

 doubt that the species is now well established as 

 a resident in, or regular migrant to and from our 

 county, I will quote some of the information that has 

 been kindly communicated to me of late years, with 

 regard to its breeding upon Northamptonshire waters. 

 The late Captain G. Ashby, of Naseby Woolleys, 

 informed me that he saw ten of this species together 

 upon Naseby Reservoir on April 4th, 1884, and two, 

 apparently a pair, at Welford on June 3rd of the 

 same year. Mr. O. V. Aplin wrote to me of the 

 slaughter of a pair of Crested Grebes upon one of 



