526 PODICIPEDIDAt 
been observed in winter and on the east coast, which it 
first touches on migration ; but Kerry, Mayo, and Donegal, 
are not without records. 
It resorts to inland as well as to tidal waters, indeed it 
is noteworthy that the first Irsh specimen (recorded by 
Thompson) was taken on Lough Neagh in 1826. This 
extensive sheet of water, and other lakes have been visited 
by Eared Grebes. T hree birds were recently taken in 1899, 
viz., one in Kerry in March, one in Wicklow in October, 
and one in Westmeath in October (Williams and Son); 
while examples have also been secured from :—Cork, 
Waterford, Wexford, Dublin, Mayo,! Louth, Armagh, 
Down, Antrim, and Donegal, in all about twenty-one 
records (Ussher). 
The Eared Grebe in summer, may be distinguished from 
the preceding species by its much smaller head-ornaments ; 
in the winter and immature plumages it 1s more difficult to 
identify ; however, it 1s somewhat smaller, while its beak 
is slightly curved upwards. In other Grebes the beak is 
straight. 
Flight. —In its general habits, its flight, and diving- 
powers, this bird in no wise differs from its congeners. 
Voice.—The note is softer than that of other Grebes 
and sounds like beeb, beeb, or in the nesting-season a two- 
syllabled note is uttered sounding like bidder (Naumann). 
Food.—"ish and crabs, also beetles (to which the bird 
seems partial), form the diet. Watters found the stomach 
of an Eared Grebe entirely filled with beetles which 
elittered among the feathers in which they were embedded. 
When the bird was captured two large beetles were found 
in the throat (‘ Birds of Ireland,’ p. 99} 1 
Nest.—Several observers have found the nest on tufts 
built up from the bottom of the water, situated on islets or 
on the margin of a lake. But in other situations it floats 
amid reeds, these in a state of decay forming the chief 
materials of the nest. In Algeria the late Canon Tristram 
observed this bird breeding in colonies so dense that some of 
' Mr. Warren only met with one example on the Mayo coast during 
his long experience in that locality. This bird was shot in Killala Bay 
on February 6th, 1852. 
Two specimens in full nuptial-plumage have been obtained in Ive- 
land. One near Dublin on June 15th, 1847 (Watters), the other in the 
co. Armagh early in June, 1849 (Thompson). 
