670 



GREBE. 



There must be sap in vegetables, in order that either 

 of those operations may take place, for a sapless 

 vegetable merely dissolves mechanically in the water 

 by maceration. 



The other mistake is, that of supposing that grebes 

 have forethought purpose, and thus build their nests 

 so as to rise and fall with those waters which are 

 subject to differences of level ; that, in some circum- 

 stances, the heavy nest of a grebe, when placed so as 

 to touch the surface of the water, may descend if the 

 water is lower ; and, as the weight is in the great 

 volume, and not in the specific gravity of the dry 

 leaves and stems, it is just as likely that such a nest 

 will be raised by an elevation of the water ; but that 

 the grebe has any forethought purpose in this, is 

 just as absurd as it would be to suppose that a grebe 

 should go and examine whether a pond had a sluice 

 to it or not, before beginning to build her nest ; and 

 not only this, but, before she could do what is said 

 of her by purpose and contrivance, she would require 

 a good deal of topographical knowledge ; for the 

 characters of the surrounding country, and that to a 

 distance far exceeding any grebe's journey, very fre- 

 quently determines whether the surface of a pool or 

 lake shall be constant or variable. 



We shall now give a short glance at some of the 

 species of grebes ; and, as they resemble each other 

 very much in their habits, we shall make our remarks 

 brief. 



RED NECKED GREBE (Podlceps rubricollis). In 

 he British islands this species is not very common, 



and we believe it has not been seen excepting in the 

 winter. Still this circumstance does not warrant us 

 in saying positively that it is a migrant, because 

 grebes are not much on land at any time, and there 

 is much more concealment for them upon the waters 

 in summer than in winter. Besides, all our pool- 

 breeding birds seek toward the cold and upland pools 

 in the summer, because those pools are not so liable 

 to be dried up as those in the warmer, more cul- 

 tivated, and more thickly inhabited parts of the 

 country. This is a species of the same instinct 

 which brings the warblers to ou groves, and sends 

 the wild geese to the polar regions ; but, when we 

 have stated that it is an instinct, we have stated the 

 ultimate point which our knowledge reaches, and can 

 assign no reason why it is such. 



Besides being rather rarer than most of the other 

 grebes, this one is a more clumsy and heavy bird, and 

 not so handsome as the smaller species. Its length 

 is nearly a foot and a half, and its weight about a 

 pound and a half ; the bill is the same length with 

 the head, black for the greater part of the length, but 

 yellowish at the base. The crest on the hind head 

 is very short, and there are no rough or long feathers 

 on the sides of the head. This structure would lead 

 us to suppose that this bird is less expert in using its 

 bill in the waters than the crested ones, because 

 almost all birds that seize their prey rapidly in the 

 free waters, whether their bodies happen to be 

 immersed in the waters or not, have a crest on the 

 hind head, which appears to guide the bill in the 

 same manner as a dart or arrow is guided by the 

 feathers. The upper parts are of a brownish black 

 colour, but the secondary quills and basal part of the 

 primaries are white. The cheeks and throat are of 

 a grey colour ; the breast reddish chestnut : and all 

 the rest of the under part white, with a fine silky 

 gloss. I ndeed, the under parts of grebes are so glossy, 



so finely feathered, and so durable, that they are 

 often prepared and used in the same manner as furs. 

 The female differs little in plumage from the male, but 

 the young do not acquire the red colour on the breast 

 till after the second moult. The timeof moulting in thi$, 

 and indeed in all the species, is the autumn ; and, so far 

 as has been observed, there is very little difference in 

 the summer and winter plumage. Indeed, as grebes are 

 almost constantly in the water, and thus subject to 

 much less variation of temperature than laud birds, 

 their differences of season are also less. Though, as 

 already stated, these birds have not been seen, except 

 in winter, analogy would lead us to conclude that 

 they do breed somewhere within our shores, for we 

 are acquainted with no species of grebe which is 

 known to be migrant, and there are no genera of 

 birds, so well derined and so peculiar as the grebes 

 are, of which some species are migratory and others 

 not. In many parts of the world, where lakes and 

 marshy pools are better adapted to its habits, and 

 more retired and solitary, this grebe is more plentiful 

 than in the British islands ; and there is reason to 

 believe that it is resident all the year round in most, 

 if not all, of those places, though there it is little 

 observed during the summer. 



THE CRESTED GREBE (P. cristatus~), though more 

 common and frequently seen than the red-necked 

 species, is yet by no means a common bird in the 

 British islands, and, in consequence of the drainage 

 of many of the upland pools, it is not nearly so com- 

 mon at the present time as it was formerly. On the 

 continent of Europe, and in some parts of Asia, it is 



tar more frequently met with, though its habits unfit 

 it for those countries which are burnt up by drought 

 in the summer months. It must be understood, how- 

 ever, that, though an aquatic bird, it is not a fen bird, 

 and therefore it is met with most abundantly in the 

 upland pools of the midland counties, where the 

 waters divide and run to the opposite seas. It is 

 more aquatic than the red necked species, or, at all 

 events, it frequents broader waters, where it is more 

 easily seen ; and there are few of the large lakes in 

 any part of the temperate latitudes of the eastern 

 continent where it is not to be met with. Grebes 

 resembling this, and perhaps originally of the same 

 stock, though partially altered by climate, are also 

 met with in America ; but the waters in North 

 America cover such an extensive surface, that the 

 exploring of them is no easy task, and therefore we 

 are ignorant of the numbers and the manners of many 

 of their habits. 



This species, though handsome in its form, arid 

 not apparently so thick and heavy as the former, 

 is a much larger and weightier bird. It measures 

 about one foot nine inches in length, and two feet and 

 a half in the stretch of the wings, and weighs from 

 two to three pounds. The bill is about two inches 

 and a half in length, which is more than the length 

 of the head ; and the colour is dull red on the basal 

 part, and pale yellowish brown on the middle of the 

 upper mandible and the tip ; the legs and feet are 

 dusky black, with a yellowish tint on the inner 

 surfaces of the tarsi ; the irides, and naked skin 

 round the eyes, are bright crimson, and so is a stripe 

 of naked skin during the breeding season, which 

 extends from the opening of the bill to the eye ; at 

 other seasons this stripe is lead-coloured, and the tint 

 of the circle round the eye fades ; the crest is 

 divided into two rounded lobes, and the ear-coverts 



