RED-NECKED GREBE. 411 



species is also considered to be more decidedly marine 

 in its habits. Like the other Grebes it is an expert diver, 

 and very difficult to obtain when at sea, or in other expen- 

 sive waters where there is ample space to exercise its 

 powers. It feeds on small fish and aquatic insects. The 

 stomach of one examined by Montagu was found to be 

 distended with its own feathers and small seeds. I am 

 not aware of any record of the Red-necked Grebe breed- 

 ing in this country. The nest is described as placed among 

 aquatic herbage and reeds, being built of similar decayed 

 materials ; an egg, which I obtained from Hamburgh, is of 

 a dull white colour tinged with green ; two inches in length 

 by one inch and four lines in breadth. 



Mr. W. Thompson mentions that the Red-necked Grebe 

 has been taken at Belfast, and in different parts of Ireland. 

 It has been obtained in Cornwall, Devonshire, and Dorset- 

 shire. It has been killed more than once in East Kent ; 

 and Mr. Joseph Clarke sent me notice of one killed in 

 Essex, near Saffron Walden, which is now preserved in 

 the Museum there. Both old and young have been killed 

 in the Fens of Cambridgeshire, and on the broads of 

 Norfolk, but only in winter. Mr. Selby says it is not un- 

 common in winter on the coasts of Northumberland and 

 Durham ; and Mr. Macgillivray mentions having obtained 

 it in the Frith of Forth. 



M. Temminck states that this species is nowhere more 

 abundant than in Holstein. It breeds on the lakes of 

 Sweden ; and I have been favoured by Mr. Dann with 

 the following notes from his own observations of its habits 

 still further north in that direction : " The Red-necked 

 Grebe is common during the breeding-season on many of 

 the shallow reedy lakes at the head of the Bothnian Gulf, 

 particularly between Pi tea and Lulea. They seem to be 

 confined to the vicinity of the coast of the Baltic. I have 



