514 
Family PODICIPEDIDA. 
GREAT CRESTED GREBE. Podicipes cristatus (Linneus). 
Coloured Figures.—Gould, ‘ Birds of Great Britain,’ vol. vy, pl. 
38; Dresser, ‘Birds of Hurope,’ vol. vii, pl. 629; 
Lilford, ‘Coloured Figures,’ vol. vi, pl. 48 ; Booth, ‘Rough 
Notes,’ vol. ii, pl. 20), 
This fine bird, distinguished from other Grebes by its 
superior size, and remarkable for its head-appendages 
assumed during the nuptial season, is not uncommon in the 
British Isles. It is resident to a considerable extent, and is 
somewhat widely distributed over large sheets of fresh water, 
to which it is on the whole more partial than to the tide. 
Its favourite haunts are quiet sequestered lagoons, lakes, 
and ponds, where the waters are deep and still, and where 
reeds, sedges, and other aquatic vegetation afford shelter and 
concealment. Though the large lakes are most frequented, 
yet this Grebe may “occasionally be observed lurking amid 
the sedges of quite a small pond. Artificial waters, such as 
the reservoirs of the midlands of England, are also visited. 
On the Broads of Norfolk this species is quite common as 
a breeding-bird. 
Like other Grebes it is wont to change its quarters in 
winter, migrating from lakes to rivers or to tidal waters. 
Small parties may consort together in bays and estuaries 
though the species is not strictly gregarious. In hard 
weather when lakes and rivers become frost-bound, numbers 
appear along the sea-coast. 
The attitude of the Great Crested Grebe when swim- 
ming is very graceful. Its neck, long and slender, is 
carried erect, its head straight or with a slight downward 
droop. ‘Thus on the water the carriage offers a contrast to 
that of the Cormorant which, though carrying its neck 
erect, points its head upwards at such an angle, that the 
throat appears unduly stretched as though the bird were 
endeavouring to swallow forcibly an object too large for its 
