SLAVONIAN, REDNECKED, BLACKNECKED GREBES 429 



Miss E. L. Turner, who remarks, " When the adult grebe is ... 

 sitting motionless . . . amongst the reeds, I have been much struck 

 with the protective nature of the colouring of the rich chesnut 

 cheeks and olive-brown crest and ear-tufts. Several times I have 

 found myself staring hard at what appeared to be dead and decaying 

 reeds, such as often cling to the base of the 'colts,' as broadsmen 

 call the young green reeds, but the sudden glint of a bright eye would 

 warn me that the apparently dead reed was something very much 

 alive, and intent on my hiding-place." 



Why should the colour of the iris change so remarkably between 

 the juvenile and adult stages ? In the former it is straw-yellow, in 

 the latter carmine. 



One other peculiarity of this species remains to be noted. And 

 this is the observation of Miss Turner, that coots and grebes gener- 

 ally build near together ; perhaps, she suggests, " because both being 

 wary birds, some amount of mutual protection is [unconsciously] 

 gained." 



THE SLAVONIAN, REDNECKED, AND 

 BLACKNECKED GREBES 



[W. P. PYCRAFT] 



The Slavonian and blacknecked grebes breed with us in a few 

 favoured spots, and sparingly, but in their habits they do not appear 

 to differ in any essentials from the great crested-grebe, so that these 

 two species, and the blacknecked-grebe, which has never bred with 

 us, may well be considered together. 



That all three bear a common likeness to one another and to the 

 great-crested and little-grebes, when surveyed in their post-nuptial 

 dress, is only what we should expect though the likeness is never so 

 close as to leave any doubt as to the identity of each. But these 

 resemblances vanish with the assumption of the nuptial livery, which 



VOL. IV. 3 I 



