NATATORES. 241 



Family CoLYMBiDiE. 



Great Crested Grebe, Podiceps cristatus. I 

 cannot learn that this handsome bird has ever been 

 seen in Middlesex in the peculiar stage of plumage 

 from which it derives its name ; the few examples 

 which have occurred have all been in winter or im- 

 mature plumage, minus the crest. Mr. Yarrell has 

 recorded the capture of a young bird in its first 

 winter, which was shot on the Thames at Penton 

 Hook, near Laleham, and I have seen three examples 

 in winter plumage which were shot during February 

 and March, in different years, at Kingsbury Reser- 

 voir. On the 24th March, 1865, and following day, 

 I noticed a bird of this species at the same sheet of 

 water, and find the following entry relating to it in 

 my note-book for that year. 



" On the first day the reservoir was frozen over, 

 with the exception of a long, narrow space in the 

 centre, and in this confined spot, out of gunshot 

 from the shore, the Great Grebe appeared to 

 feel safe. The ice was too thick to permit the 

 use of a boat, and yet not sufficiently strong to 

 bear our weight, while several cartridges aimed 

 point-blank at the bird were, owing to the distance, 

 ineffectual in killing or inducing it to change its 

 quarters. On the afternoon of the second day the 

 ice broke up with loud cracks, and, in a strong wind 



Y 



