7o8 BLACK-NECKED OR EARED GREBE. 



examples in full plumage have been obtained in June, and a few 

 birds appear to have been met with during the colder months. 



The Black-necked Grebe is merely a wanderer to the southern por- 

 tions of Scandinavia ; but as regards Denmark, Benzon assured Mr. 

 Dresser that it bred regularly near Thy, in the north-west of Jut- 

 land, though neither Prof. Liitken nor Mr. Oluf Winge confirm 

 this statement. Southward it is found nesting in suitable localities 

 throughout the greater part of Europe, becoming abundant in the 

 countries bordering the Mediterranean and Black Seas ; it is even 

 more plentiful in North Africa, and ranges southward to the Cape ; 

 while in Asia it is widely distributed over the temperate regions as 

 far as the Pacific, and down to about 22" X. lat. in winter. In North 

 America it i? represented by a closely-allied but distinguishable 

 species, P. californicns, which has hardly any white on the innermost 

 primary and little on the two first secondaries. Neither species is 

 found in Greenland, but Mr. B. Grondal insists that the true Black- 

 necked Grebe — as well as the Slavonian — has occurred in Iceland. 



Canon Tristram found this species on Lake Halloula in Algeria, 

 " in societies more densely crowded than any rookery " ; the nests 

 being " raised on artificial islets, frequently almost touching each 

 other, and sometimes piled on stout foundations rising from more 

 than a yard under water." Benzon states that in Denmark the nest? 

 were not floating amongst the reeds, .but were on tussocks at the 

 edge of the lake, though in places where the water was deep and 

 clear ; they were made chiefly of " moss " \_sic\ with which the 

 female covers up her eggs on leaving them. These are originally 

 yellowish-white, but are often stained dark brown : average measure- 

 ments I "65 by I "15 in. The note is described by Naumann as a 

 soft beeb or — in the pairing season — bidder, reiterated ; the food 

 consists of fish, crustaceans, coleopterous insects &c. The late Mr. 

 Gatcombe told me that he had seen this. Grebe and others dive 

 with a leap when in deep water, as a Shag does. 



The adult in summer has the head and neck black, with a trian- 

 gular patch of long hair-like feathers of a golden chestnut colour on 

 the ear-coverts ; upper parts dark brown ; secondaries almost entirely 

 ivhite to their tips, while there is also a great deal of white 071 the 

 four itifier primaries ; breast and belly white, flanks dull chestnut ; 

 bill black, upcurved in front of the angle. Whole length i 2 in. ; 

 wing 5 in. After the autumn moult the ear-tuf:s and black on 

 the throat are lost, only a dusky band remaining on the latter ; the 

 plumage of the young resembles that of the adults \n winter. 



