PODICIPEDID.l^:. 



709 



THE LITTLE GREBE. 



PoDiciPES FLuviATiLis (Tunstall). 



This species — familiarly known as the Dabchick — is generally 

 distributed and resident on the reedy streams, lakes and ponds of 

 England ; it may even be found nesting on some of the ornamental 

 waters of London, notably in St. James's Park. In Scotland it is 

 less plentiful, though found northward to the Shetlands and westward 

 to the Outer Hebrides, while it breeds up to an elevation of 2,000 

 feet or even more in the Highlands ; it is, however, more frequently 

 noticed in winter, when there is less chance of concealment, and 

 when the freezing of inland waters drives it to the coast. In Ireland 

 it is common. 



The Little Grebe is seldom met with in the Faeroes and has not 

 yet been recorded from Iceland ; while, though Norway is under 

 the influence of the Gulf Stream, its range there does not extend 

 above lat. 62°. On both sides of the Baltic it is rare, even in 

 summer; but it is of tolerably general distribution over the rest of 

 the Continent, and it is resident in the south ; as well as in North 

 Africa. The same may be said of South Africa and Madagascar ; 

 temperate Asia, as far west as China and Japan, and the country 

 southward to Ceylon and Burma ; the Malay archipelago and 

 Northern Australia. In the south of the latter and in New Zea- 

 land, as well as in North America, it is represented by other species. 



