23 1 4 TUBE-NOSED BIRDS, DIVING BIRDS, PENGUINS 



Southern Europe, the whole of Africa, and the greater portion of Southern and 

 Central Asia, as well as Australia and New Zealand. It is noteworthy that the Aus- 

 tralasian forms, though completely isolated, present no differences from the others. 

 The smaller red-necked grebe (P. griseigena) , which only measures sixteen inches 

 in length, takes its names from the chestnut hue of the front of the lower neck in 

 the summer plumage, in which alone the crests on the head are present. Inhabit- 

 ing a large portion of Northern Europe and Asia, this species appears to have a 

 circumpolar distribution, although some writers regard the variety occurring in 

 America and Northeastern Asia as a distinct species, under the name of P. holboelli. 

 A third group of the genus is characterized by the smaller size of its members, in 

 which the neck is short, and the beak shorter than the head, while ear tufts are 

 present in the breeding plumage. Its best-known representative is the circumpolar 

 Sclavonian grebe (/*. cornutus), which visits the British Islands and Gibraltar in 



winter, and, except in 



Norwa y- does not * reed 



north of the Arctic Cir- 

 cle. Measuring a little 

 over thirteen inches in 

 length, it is character- 

 ized by its compressed 

 beak, and the combi- 

 nation in the breeding 

 plumage of a chestnut 

 fore-neck with black 

 ear tufts. On the 

 other hand, the black- 

 necked grebe (P. nig- 

 ricollis) may be recog- 

 nized by the prevalence 

 of black on both the 

 fore-neck and the ear 

 coverts. Ranging over 



the greater part of Europe and Asia (except India and Burma), as well as por- 

 tions of Africa and the whole of Greenland, this species is represented by a 

 variety in Western North Africa. Lastly, we have the familiar dabchick or little 

 grebe (P. fluviatilis) of the Old World; and the least grebe (P. dominicus) of trop- 

 ical America, together with some southern forms, as the representatives of a fourth 

 group, characterized by the small size of its members, the very short neck and 

 beak, and the absence of tufts or crests in the breeding plumage. By many writers 

 these species are regarded as constituting a distinct genus Tachybaptes. The dab- 

 chick, which 'is the commonest of the British grebes, has a wide range in the Old 

 World, its breeding area including the subtropical portions of both the Northern 

 and Southern Hemispheres south of latitude 42, as well as elevated regions within 

 the tropics, while in Western Europe it extends some 20 further north. Not ex- 

 ceeding nine and one-half inches in length, the dabchick in breeding plumage is 



CRESTED GREBE. 



