'9 BRITISH BIRDS. WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



Professor Giglioli says that this species is one of the rarest in Italy, although less 

 so in the north (" Ibis," 1881).* But it visits North Africa, and, according to 

 Colonel Irby, some specimens obtained in Morocco by Favier were so young that 

 they must have been bred in the coun-try, and Colonel Irby saw many at the lakes 

 of Ras el Doura in April, but had no record of it on the Spanish side of the 

 Straits ("Ornithology of the Straits of Gibraltar"). Mr. H. Satmders thinks 

 that a bird obtained in Iceland probably belonged to the larger form. At 

 Heligoland young birds of the year are frequently shot in autumn, but adults in 

 winter as well as in spring dress are rare. 



The Red-necked Grebe occasionally occurs in this country in full breeding 

 dress, and examples in full plumage have been killed in Norfolk as late in the 

 season as the latter part of April and the third week in May, while the Rev. T. J. 

 Blofeld saw three on Hoveton Broad on the I4th of April, 1845 (" Birds of 

 Norfolk"). At the end of summer, or early in the autumn, individuals have been 

 obtained in such immature plumage, and so early in the season, as to give rise to 

 a suspicion that they might have been bred in this country. Mr. E. A. 

 S. Elliot has recorded the appearance of a young bird at Kingsbridge during 

 the month of July, 1892, which was shot and brought to him on August 

 ist. Messrs. D'Urban and Mathew have seen it, and consider that from 

 the very immature condition of plumage, it is entirely unlikely that it could have 

 wandered far from where it was hatched, and that there is justification for Mr. 

 Elliot's opinion that it had strayed from a nest on Slapton Ley. Its cheeks were 

 striped with dark lines (Supplement to the "Birds of Devon"). When I was at 

 Cley, in November, 1886, Mr. J. H. Gurney called my attention to an example 

 which was shot on the loth of August in that year, inside the sea-wall at Salt- 

 house ; it exhibited the dark stripes of immaturity on the throat, and was hardly 

 full grown. Booth also shot an immature bird on Breydon flats in August, 1873. 



The Red-necked Grebe resorts to reedy lakes and pools for breeding purposes, 

 and builds a floating nest of water-plants. It is said to be very watchful when 

 incubating, and to cover the eggs and leave the nest long before the latter can 

 be discovered. The eggs are of the usual Grebe type, and three to four in 

 number. They are about 2'oo long by about 1-30 broad. "They are smaller 

 than eggs of the Great Crested Grebe, though both dimensions overlap, but never 

 on the same egg. This is also the case with the eggs of the Black-throated and 

 Sclavonian Grebes, which are always smaller" (Seebohin). 



The Red-necked Grebe has been more frequently obtained in Italy of late years, and several Italian 

 Ornithologists have expressed independently their belief that it nests in the marshes of their country (cf. 

 "Avicula," 1897, p. 131; ib. cit. 1898, p. 90). H.A.M. 



