PYGOPODES. ( 317 ) PODICIPEDIDAi. 



THE EAUED GREBE. 



THE BLACK-NECKED GREBE. 



Podiceps nigricollis. 



Birds, small and great, of eiidless shapes and colours, 

 Here flew and perch' d, there swam and dived at pleasure ; 

 Watchful and agile, uttering voices wild 

 And harsh, yet in accorda?tce with the waves 

 Upon the beach. 



Montgomery. 



Although this is the rarest of the five species of Grebes 

 found in the British Islands, Mr. Eobert Gray states that 

 it seems to occur regularly every winter in suitable locali- 

 ties alongshore between Berwick-on-Tweed and Belhaven/ 

 which includes the whole of the Berwickshire coast. Mr. 

 Andrew Brotherston, bird-stuffer, Kelso, informed me on 

 the 19th of March 1885 that, some time previous to this 

 date, a specimen was shot on Lithtillum Loch, which is 

 situated on the march between the parishes of Coldstream 

 and Eccles. This is the only instance with which I am 

 acquainted of the bird having been got in the county, but an 

 example killed on the Tweed near Berwick in March 1881 

 is in my collection. The Eared Grebe may be distinguished 

 from the Sclavonian by the former having the bill slightly 

 recurved, while in the latter it is straight. In its habits 

 and food this bird resembles its congeners. 



J- Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, voL vii. p. 465. 



