GREAT-CRESTED GREBE. 409 



dark brown ; the secondaries white, but this colour is 

 little seen unless the wings are extended ; front of neck, 

 and all the under surface of the body delicate and shining 

 silky white, from which, as before mentioned, this species 

 is sometimes called the Satin Grebe ; sides beneath the 

 wing and the flanks pale chestnut brown ; legs and toes 

 dark green on the outer flat surface, lighter pale yellowish- 

 green on the inner surface. The whole length is from 

 twenty-one to twenty-two inches. From the carpal joint 

 to the end of the longest feathers eight inches. The crest 

 is borne constantly throughout the year. 



Adult females do not differ much from old males, ex- 

 cept that they are not quite so large in size ; the crest is 

 also a little smaller, and the general colours of the whole 

 plumage less pure. 



Young birds in their first winter, and during part of 

 their second year, have but small crests, and little or no 

 reddish-chestnut colour. For some time after they are 

 hatched the young chicks have their bills mottled black 

 and white : the head and neck ornamented with long 

 dark stripes on a ground-colour of dull greyish-white ; 

 the upper surface of the body dark brown, with longi- 

 tudinal stripes of light brown ; the whole under surface 

 white. A young bird of this species is figured as a 

 vignette to the Sclavonian Grebe, to be hereafter de- 

 scribed. 



