52 



COLYMBIFORMES 



CHAP. 



to a considerable distance, then both parents swim towards the 

 intruder with the body partly submerged, and finally, if thoroughly 

 scared, they rise heavily on the wing to circle round with out- 

 stretched neck before betaking themselves with rapid but laboured 

 flight to some neighbouring lake, from which they return at 

 intervals until the coast is clear. They descend from aloft 

 noisily and with great impetus, the splashing plunge being fol- 

 lowed by a gliding movement, leaving a broad furrow behind, 

 while on land they move with difficulty, and rest on the 

 metatarsus. Their croak, or loud, clear, melancholy cry is often 

 heard before storms, whence the Eed-throated Diver is called 

 "Eain-goose" in Scotland; the food consists chiefly of fish, brought 

 to the surface and swallowed with a jerk, but crustaceans, molluscs, 

 and perhaps aquatic insects vary the diet. The young take to the 

 water readily, but the female occasionally carries them on her back. 



Both Divers and Grebes swim strongly, the flat of the meta- 

 tarsus meeting the water during the back stroke, and the thin 

 edge on the return. When submerged they do not use the pinions. 



Fam. II. In the Podicipedidae both sexes are mainly dusky 

 brown or blackish grey above, and silvery white below, often with 

 some white on the wing ; so it will only be necessary to note 

 hereafter the distinctive ornaments or bright colours which 



fcx. 



Fig. 16. Little Grebe. Podicipes Jluviatilis. x\. 



are invariably lost in winter. Podicipes Jiiiviatilis, the Little Gh'ebe 

 or Dabchick, ranging over Europe, Africa, and Asia to the Malay 

 Countries and North Australia, has rich chestnut cheeks, throat, 

 and sides of the neck, horn-coloured bill, and greenish feet. In 

 winter the chestnut fades to buff with a white chin. Count 

 Salvadori ^ considers P. gularis of Australia and Papuasia and 



^ Ornitologia Papuasia c 3folucche, iii. Toriuo, 1882, pp. 469-471 ; cf. also 

 Sharpe, Bull. Ornith. Chib, iv. 1894, p. iv. 



