GREAT-CRESTED GREBE. 301 



in great request for making into muffs for ladies, or, more 

 frequently to cut up into narrow strips as trimming for pelisses. 

 A good skin sells for six or eight francs on the continent, 

 and in the vicinity of the Lake of Geneva, which is fre- 

 quented in autumn by these birds, it is usual for sportsmen 

 to make parties on the lake to obtain specimens by shooting. 

 This sport, called La chasse du Grebe, is referred to by M. 

 Necker, in his paper on the Birds of Geneva, and has been 

 described to me by an English gentleman who had pursued 

 the amusement. 



A party of four, as shooters, hire a boat with able rowers, 

 and on a calm day, when the surface of the lake is smooth, 

 they put off, and look out with telescopes for a large Grebe, 

 towards Avhich the men row ; on their approach the bird 

 dives, and the boatmen pull with vigour in the direction the 

 bird has taken, in order to be near it when it comes up to 

 the surface to breathe. One of the shooters stations himself 

 in the bow of the boat, one at the stern, and the others one 

 at each side, about the middle, in order that one or the other 

 may be in a position to take the shot as soon as the bird is 

 visible. At the commencement of the pvirsuit, when the 

 bird is strong, it frequently comes to the surface of the water 

 out of shooting distance, and has perhaps altered its course, 

 but a good look-out being kept by the shooters at their 

 different posts, the bird is soon descried, and the rowers again 

 urge the boat in chace ; the bird dives again, and is again 

 pursued, and on rising is perhaps shot at, but at too great a 

 distance to be effectual, and the bird dives again. In this 

 way the chace is kept up for a time ; the bird, partly ex- 

 hausted by the necessity of maintaining its exertions, and 

 perhaps slightly wounded, is unable to remain so long under 

 water, but the boat is close at hand, the exertion must be 

 continued, and the Grebe still rises and dives again with so 

 much rapidity that several unsuccessful shots are frequently 



