EAEED GREBE — LITTLE GREBE. 181 



THE EARED GREBE. 



Podiceps nigricollis. 

 The Eared Grebe is an occasional visitor. The Messrs. 

 Matthews record that a specimen in full summer plumage was 

 shot on the Isis, near Sandford, in June, 1847, ^^^ ^^^^* ^^ ^^^ 

 also been procured in the winter months. The Rev. H. A. 

 Macpherson, in 1882, found an Eared Grebe in a local collec- 

 tion at Clifton Hampden. Mr. Prior records one of these 

 birds procured on the Cherwell in the north of the county. 

 {Banhury Guardian^ 



\ i 'L 

 THE LITTLE GREBE. \ \ 



Podiceps fluviatilis. 



The Little Grebe, or Dabchick, is a resident in some 

 numbers, breeding on most of the reedy ponds and larger 

 sheets of water which afford it sufficient cover, and in suitable 

 places along the Isis, and other rivers, where it is fond of 

 haunting the mouths of the back-brooks and larger overgrown 

 ditches. 



The powers of flight of the Little Grebe, said by some 

 authors to be limited, can be studied to advantage at Clatter- 

 cote Reservoir, where, not only in spring, but at other seasons, 

 these little divers may often be seen to rise from the water, 

 and fly for a considerable distance on rapidly-beating wings. 



In the case of a shy bird like the present, opportunities 

 of observing it at close quarters are seldom enjoyed, and the 

 following note by the late Rev. T. W. Falcon will be read with 

 interest. 'Water Rails and Dabchicks frequent our very 

 sluggish river Ray ; I have often watched the latter feeding 

 her young. The latter swim about in shelter of thick flags, 

 and the mother dives after the fry, I think, of roach, and having 

 caught one, pokes no more than her head above water, gives 

 it to one of her brood, and slips under again silently ' [in lit.). 



