PYGOPODES. ( 313 ) PODICIPEDID^. 



THE GREAT CRESTED GREBE. 



CEESTED DOUKER, TIPPET OR SATIN GREBE/ GAUNT, CAR GOOSE, 

 GREATER LOON, GREY OR ASH-COLOURED LOON. 



Podiceps cristatus. 



Thou cream-faced Loon ! 

 Where got' st thou that goose look ? 



Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act v. Sc. 3. 



During the autumn, winter, and spring months the Great 

 Crested Grebe is occasionally found off the shores of the 

 county in small numbers. Mr. Hardy mentions that of 

 late years it has been noted as an annual winter visitor, 

 and that it was very numerous in 1879, when some were 

 seen lingering on the coast as late as the 3rd of May.^ He 

 adds that in the spring of 1880 it was observed for the last 

 time in the season on the 22nd of March, and reappeared 

 on the 20th of December following.^ In 1881 it left the 

 coast on the 29 th of April, and was not noticed in the 

 autumn of that year ; only two or three examples were seen 

 in the spring of 1882.* The smooth, silky breast of this 

 Grebe is used for making ladies' muffs, and on this account 

 the bird is frequently pursued by men with guns in a boat, 

 when it dives with such rapidity that it can be shot only 

 after a long chase, 



1 "From the glossy, silky white skin of the breast being used by furriers for 

 cape trimmings and tii^pets." — Swainson's Folk-Lore of British Birds, ji. 215. 



2 Mr. G. Bolam records that he saw a specimen in 1881 as late as 30th May on 

 the Tweed near Berwick Bridge. — Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, vol. x. p. 395. 



3 Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, vol. ix. p. 391. ^ Ibid. vol. ix. p. 552. 



