312 C'OLYMBIDE. 



the line of division between the two colours ; back of neck 

 and upper surface of the body dark broAvn ; lower part of 

 the neck in front greyish-white ; under surface of body and 

 legs as in summer. 



The figure of the male in summer plumage in the illustra- 

 tion at the head of this subject, was taken from the specimen 

 given me by Mr. Morgan, and my note made on an ex- 

 amination of the internal parts of this specimen, as mentioned 

 by the Rev. L. Jenyns, in his " Manual of the British Verte- 

 brate Animals," page 253, was, stomach membrano-muscular, 

 caecal appendages each one inch and a half in length. The 

 other figure, in the state, as to plumage, in which it is called 

 the Dusky Grebe, was taken from a specimen obtained in 

 the London market in March 1825, and now also in my 

 own collection. My note of the internal appearance of this 

 bird Avas, stomach muscular, a true gizzard, contained in- 

 sects,* two long csecal appendages from four to five inches 

 each. From the difference in the substance of the parietes 

 of the stomach in these two specimens, and particularly in 

 the comparative length of the csecal appendages, I was at 

 first induced to suppose that Montagu and the Editor of 

 the last edition of Pennant's British Zoology were correct 

 in considering the Sclavonian Grebe distinct from the Dusky 

 Grebe, but I am now inclined to believe that though the 

 specimen killed in summer plumage was adult, the other 

 was still an older bird. I find the Cffical appendages in 

 Podiceps cristatus, killed in its first winter, when six months 

 old, only half an inch long ; but in an old bird these append- 

 ages measure two inches in length. 



* Dr. Fleming, in his History of British Animals, page 132, says, "In the 

 stomach of a young male, shot 18th January, 1809, I found a concretion up- 

 wards of half an inch in diameter, consisting of its own belly feathers, closely 

 matted together. Montagu, in his Supplement, states that he has observed the 

 same occurrence in the Red-necked and Crested species. Are these to be con- 

 sidered as analogous to bezoars?" 



