PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 411 



On barren lakes it has been found in Iceland on a stone in the water and in a grass 

 tussock. Both sexes share in the work of building (Hantzsch), and the nests are 

 exceedingly variable in size. The eggs are normally 4 in number, sometimes 5, 

 and occasionally 6 or only 3. When quite fresh they are white with a greenish 

 tinge, but soon become buff or yellowish brown by contact with the nest, and after 

 incubation are frequently deeply stained. (PL W.) Average size of 40 eggs, 

 l*75x 1'21 in. [44 - 5 x 30 - 9 mm.]. Most of the incubation is performed by the female, 

 the male generally swimming close at hand, and only exceptionally brooding for a 

 short time, and the period is estimated at 20 to 24 days (Hantzsch). In Iceland 

 the first eggs are laid at the beginning of June; but though eggs may be found 

 till the end of July, it is very improbable that more than one brood is reared 

 in the season. [F. c. n. j.] 



5. Food. Aquatic insects and their larvae, Crustacea, small fish, Confervae, 

 and other aquatic vegetation. The young are fed by both parents on a similar 

 variable diet. [w. p. p.] 



BLACKNECKED-GREBE or EARED-GREBE [Col&mbus 

 nigricollis (Brehm) ; Podicipes nigricollis (Brehm). French, gribe oreillard ; 

 German, Schwarzhalsiger-Lappentaucher ; Italian, svasso piccolo], 



I. Description. The eared-grebe may readily be distinguished by the fact 

 that the secondaries and the greater part of the innermost primaries are white, 

 while the tip of the beak is slightly recurved. The sexes are alike, and there is a 

 marked seasonal change of coloration. (PL 176.) Length 12 in. [305 mm.]. In 

 the nuptial dress the head and neck, and the back and wings, save certain of the 

 remiges, are black. The superciliary feathers and ear-coverts are much elongated, 

 and form a tuft of hair-like texture, straw-coloured above, and shading into chesnut 

 on the ear-coverts. The flanks are chesnut, and the rest of the under parts glisten- 

 ing white. The iris is crimson, but a narrow ring of white surrounds the pupil. 

 The beak is slate-blue, reddish at the base, and the legs and toes leaden blue, save 

 their outer surfaces, which are black. After the autumn moult the auricular plumes 

 are wanting, the throat and sides of the head become white, like the breast, while 

 the ear-coverts and fore-neck become brownish white, and the flanks slate-coloured. 

 The juvenile dress is like that of the adult in winter, but the side and head are 

 more or less obscurely marked by longitudinal striations, and the iris is yellow. 

 The nestling has the upper parts dull black, marked with numerous longitudinal 

 greyish white stripes, [w. p. p.] 



