WHITE-WINGED GREBE. Ml 



familiar with it at the pond of Mount Edgecumbe, 

 which, though not more than an acre or two in ex- 

 tent, used to be speckled with a good number of 

 these miniature ducks ; their little black heads and 

 the tops of their backs alone being visible above 

 the surface. On the slightest alarm, they dive with 

 the quickness of thought ; and so vigilant is their 

 eye and so rapid their motion, that, ordinarily, the 

 fowling-piece is discharged at them in vain. It is 

 commonly said of some birds, that they dive at the 

 flash of the pan; but though I always used per- 

 cussion-locks, I could never succeed in hitting one, 

 until I formed a screen of bushes, behind which I 

 might fire in concealment. I then found no diffi- 

 culty. Hence, I infer that their quick eye detects 

 and takes alarm at the small but sudden motion 

 of the falling hammer. They remain long, and swim 

 far, under water ; coming up where quite unlooked 

 for. Some that I have had an opportunity of ob- 

 serving when swimming a little beneath the surface, 

 shot along with expanded wings, almost with the 

 celerity of a fish. They do not always dive, how- 

 ever, when frightened ; sometimes they sink deeper 

 than before, and swim away almost submerged. 

 When not alarmed, they call and answer each other, 

 with a loud clang ^ like the note of a trumpet. 



One of these birds which I had wounded slightly, 



Irides bright yellow ; feet and beak black. Upper parts smoky black ; 

 wing-quills white ; outer webs and tips of the first four or five dusky. 

 Chin black ; throat and cheeks blackish ashy ; breast blackish ; belly 

 feathers tipped with white, giving a mottled appearance. Whole plumage 

 satiny. Intestine 1 6 inches ; two caeca \ inch long. 



