406 COLYMBID^E. 



Of several examples of the Great-crested Grebe which 

 I have examined internally, I never remember to have 

 opened one, the stomach of which did not contain a portion 

 of feathers which appeared to have been taken from the 

 white under surface of their own bodies. The same thing 

 has been noticed and recorded by others in the Magazine 

 of Natural History.* This habit of swallowing feathers 

 appears to be peculiar to the Grebes only, but from 

 fish bones being occasionally found mixed up with the 

 feathers, there is cause to suspect these birds bring up at 

 will, from the stomach, the more indigestible parts of their 

 last meal, as hawks, owls, shrikes and some other birds 

 are known to do. 



The Great-crested Grebe is rather rare in some parts of 

 the south of England, but has been seen occasionally in 

 Devon and Cornwall ; Mr. Dillwyn has noticed it in Gla- 

 morganshire ; and Mr. Eyton in Shropshire and North 

 Wales. A young bird in its first winter was shot on the 

 Thames at Penton-hook near Laleham, Middlesex, in 

 February, 1844. Mr. Thompson says it is resident in 

 Ireland on the larger lakes ; Mr. Heysham has recorded 

 the capture of both old and young in Cumberland ; and 

 Mr. Macgillivray, formerly of Aberdeen, in his published 

 Manual of the Water-birds of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 says it is more numerous in Scotland during winter than 

 summer. 



Of the Grebes in Scandinavia, Mr. Dann sent me 

 word, that, with the exception of the Red-necked species, 

 next to be described, they are confined to the south of 

 Sweden. In Norway they only appear as stragglers, and 

 then generally on or near the coast. M. Nilsson, the 

 Swedish naturalist, says the Great-crested Grebe breeds 

 in their lakes ; it is found on some of the large reeded 

 * Volume vi. page 519, and vol. ix. pp. 202 and 326. 



