RED-NECKED GREBE. 741 



the district ; it is rare near Leeds ; a specimen was shot at Ripponden 

 in 1800; it is met with near York occasionally, in immature and 

 winter plumage ; I once had a male nearly arrived at its full summer 

 plumage ; a specimen in full plumage was shot in the Ouse a few years 

 ago, close to the City, and is in r the Museum at York ; it is rare at Hebden 

 Bridge ; it is occasionally- met with in winter in Bridlington [Bay], 

 but it is by no means common. 



This bird is a winter visitant to the coast-line from 

 September to March, of very irregular and uncertain appear- 

 ance, in some years being altogether absent, whilst in very 

 severe seasons it has been observed in considerable numbers. 

 In the winter of 1855 five specimens were taken to a Scar- 

 borough taxidermist ; several occurred in Holderness in the 

 winter of 1884-85, and since that date it has occasionally 

 been obtained in the neighbourhood of the Humber. Odd 

 individuals have also been met with at intervals at Bridlington, 

 Flamborough, Whitby, and in the Teesmouth area, where I 

 have notes of its occurrence on six occasions between 1875 

 and 1890. In the early part of the year 1891, however, it 

 appeared in such surprising numbers as to excite the attention 

 of ornithologists on the whole length of the seaboard, that year 

 having since been known as the " Grebe year." On I9th 

 January I was off at sea and obtained three of these Grebes, 

 the first I had had an opportunity of observing, whilst, at the 

 same time, twelve others were seen, but I could not follow 

 them owing to cold snow showers and darkness coming on ; 

 two Redcar boatmen, who were about a mile distant from my 

 craft, told me they had seen at least twenty more. During 

 the following week, the weather being stormy, the fishermen 

 reported astonishing quantities of Grebes at sea between 

 Huntcliffe and Teesmouth ; on the 27th another example 

 was procured, and several more seen, and, from that time 

 until ist April, these birds were noticed in the vicinity of the 

 rocks, some being shot, while others were driven ashore 

 and taken alive on the sands. Twenty-eight specimens 

 were killed in the Scarborough neighbourhood, seven at Filey, 

 and it was also reported as unusually abundant off the Head- 

 land of Flamborough (Zool. 1891, pp. 193-253 ; and Nat. 

 1891, p. 123). 



