PODICIPES CRISTATUS. 42] 
south shore, and also five Wigeons and a few Wild Ducks. About halfway 
up the broad on the south side, the keeper backed the boat into a somewhat 
thin bed of bulrushes, the withered stems of which were at this season broken 
down, and what remained of them did not stand more than a couple of feet 
above the surface of the water, and not far in was the Grebe’s nest, very like a 
Dabchick’s only larger, placed between the dead stems of the bulrushes, and 
formed of them and other aquatic plants, with finer materials as a lining. 
There were five eggs, quite warm and only partially covered with aquatic plants, 
of which one was the young leaf of a water-lily that must have been fished up 
from the bottom by the bird, as the plant has not yet grown up to the surface. 
Mr. Southwell tells me that he has never seen the eggs quite covered up as 
the Dabchick covers her eggs, and these were visible through the rushes at 
some yards from the nest. The gamekeeper told us that Mr. Edward Bidwell 
had taken an ege out of this nest a few days ago, so the bird must have laid 
six egos. The keeper let me have one egg, which I have marked ‘ No. 1,’ 
and immediately after we saw a Grebe close by, probably the owner of the 
nest, as it seemed very uneasy, Swimming backwards and forwards very fast, 
and occasionally diving for a short time, coming up again some way off, and 
then swimming back to the same spot. We counted seven more in the 
middle of the broad. 
“We rowed along the north side, the keeper shewing us a Wild Duck’s 
nest on the shore, from which he said the eggs had been taken by rats, and 
presently he backed the boat to the other Grebe’s nest, which now contained 
two eggs. These were easily visible at some distance. They were quite 
warm, and as it was cloudy the bird must have just left them. I tcok one egg, 
which I marked ‘ No. 2.’ He then shewed us near by the ‘false’ or ‘play’ 
nest, made, he said, by the birds to sit on and preen themselves. It was a raft 
of reed-stems, of a foot or eighteen inches long, crossed irregularly one over 
the other, and floating between contiguous stems of bulrushes, which kept it 
in its place. It was broad at the top, gradually decreasing in size as it was 
deeper in the water.’’ | 
[§ 5046. One—Horsey Mere, Norfolk, 31 May, 1884. “Saw 
bird on nest. E. N.” 
My brother Edward wrote that on the day above named he met Joshua 
Nudd by appointment at Hickling. With some other eggs, oe had a Great 
Crested Grebe’s, and getting into his boat they proceeded to Horsey Mere 
“‘ without seeing anything of interest. We crossed the north end of the mere 
and turned into the bulrushes, which are now some three feet above the 
water, to see the Grebe’s nest. We were going up wind, and he made 
straight for the nest, and we got within five yards of it before the bird saw us. 
I had a fair view of her as she tried hurriedly to cover up her eggs, and. she 
slipped off into the water and disappeared. There were three eggs in the nest 
and I took one. He had some wild idea that the bird was not the ordinary 
Great Crested Grebe, but was what he called a ‘ Double-crested Grebe.’ He 
could not tell me the difference between the two, and I have no reason to 
doubt that it was a Great Crested Grebe.” | 
