PODICIPES CRISTATUS 389 



ming and diving with the greatest facility. It is not usually met with 

 far out at sea, but keeps near the coast, though rarely found actually 

 on shore, except during the nesting-season. It flies well and swiftly, 

 but is reluctant to take wing. It has a harsh and rather weird cry. 

 Its food consists chiefly of fish. 



It is possible that both C. glacialis and C. arcticus may also occur 

 accidentally on the Tunisian coast. The former is recorded from 

 Algeria, and two examples of it from that country, obtained by Loche, 

 are preserved in the Milan Museum. 



Family PODICIPEDID^. 



PODICIPES CRISTATUS (Linnaeus). 



GREAT CRESTED GREBE. 



Colymbus cristatus, Linn. Sijst. Nat. i, p. 222 (1766). 



Podiceps cristatus, Malherbe, Faune Orn. cle I'Alg. p. 34 (1855) ; Loche, 



Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 219 (1867) ; Eoenig, J.f. O. 1888, p. 297 ; 



id. J. f. 0. 1893, p. 104 ; Whitaker, Ibis, 1895, p. 106. 

 Podicipes cristatus, Salvadori, Ucc. Ital. p. 300 (1887) ; Ogilvie- Grant, 



Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxvi, p. 544. 



Description. — Adult male, spring, from Tunis, North Tunisia. 



Forehead, crown, crest and collar round the neck dark brown ; lores, 

 eye-region, cheeks and chin white ; a frill behind the cheeks and passing 

 under the chin rich chestnut-colour, becoming dark brown at its junction 

 with the neck collar ; upper-parts chiefly dark brown ; edge of wing and 

 short secondaries white ; sides of the breast and flanks chestnut-brown ; 

 underparts below the throat silvery-white. 



Iris red ; bill blackish and yellow at the base ; feet greenish-black. 



Total length 21 inches, wing 6-70, culmen 2, tarsus 2-25. 



Adult female rather smaller and duller in plumage, with the crest and 

 ruff less developed. 



The Great Crested Grebe is not uncommon in North Tunisia 

 during the winter months and periods of passage, and a few pairs 

 probably breed on some of the larger lakes of the Regency, for 

 according to Blanc, the species may sometimes be met with there in 

 summer. In South Tunisia it is less frequently observed. The 



