67-2 



GREBE-COOT. 



its favourite morsels $ but it will cat other anima 

 food, and occasionally vegetables. There was one 

 lately kept at the Gallery of the Scientific Exhibition 

 in the Lowther Arcade, Strand, London, which was 

 far from being the least curious piece of mechanism 

 in the place ; and it had the advantage of self-motion 

 In that gallery there is a very long trough rilled will 

 water, for the purpose of making hydraulic experi- 

 ments ; and the little grebe used to dash along, arounc 

 and under the floating models with great rapidity 

 bobbing up its head at the one end, and again at the 

 other before one knew where to look for it. It is but 

 an ungainly walker upon land ; but in its own element 

 it is a very handsome bird. 



The usual length is about ten inches, the stretch ol 

 the wings about sixteen, and the weight about sixteen 

 ounces. The bill is scarcely an inch long, brown ; irides 

 reddish hazel ; the whole upper parts are of a rusty 

 brown ; pale on the rump ; cheeks are of the same 

 colour as the fore part ot the neck, which is grey ; in 

 others of a light rust-colour ; breast and belly glossy 

 white, mottled with ash-colour and light rusty ; in 

 some the rust-colour is wanting, especially in the fe- 

 males ; but both sexes are subject to vary in plumage 

 according to age ; legs dark dull green. As is the 

 case with all the genus, the nest consists of a great 

 quantity of materials, and the birds are in the habit o{ 

 covering up their eggs when they quit the nest for the 

 purpose of feeding ; the nest is also always so placed 

 us that the bird can escape to the water in case of 

 danger ; but when no danger appears the female is 

 very constant to her eggs. Though these grebes are 

 exceedingly voracious, as was said, and levy heavy 

 contributions on the fry of fishes, the pike, the tyrant 

 of our pools and slow running waters, sometimes re- 

 taliates, by seizing and swallowing the little grebes j 

 nor is this to be wondered at, because that fish has 

 been known to seize the heads of swans while 

 dabbling, and the noses of quadrupeds while drinking. 

 The foreign species of grebes are numerous ; but 

 little is known of their manners, so that we shall 

 merely mention the names of one or two. 



THE PIED-BILLED GREBE (P. Carolinensis] is a 

 native of North America ; brown on the upper part, 

 and dull white on the under ; the throat black ; a 

 white circle surrounding the eyes, and a black spot at 

 the base of the lower mandible ; the breast mottled 

 with olive ; the beak ash-coloured, with a black ring 

 surrounding it about the middle ; the feet black. The 

 length of the full grown bird about ten inches. The 

 young have the upper part dark brown ; the sides of 

 the neck, the bell}', and the rump, reddish ; and the 

 breast dull white with a large black spot. 



THE DOUBLB-TUFTED GREBE (P. bicomis). A 

 native of South -America, length about twenty-three 

 inches. The bill long and slender ; the crest divided, 

 of a bluish black with metallic reflections ; the upper 

 part dark coloured ; the front of the throat black ; the 

 under part \viiite. 



PHILIPPINE ISLANDS' GKEBE (P. Philippcnsis) in- 

 habits the eastern islands. It is about a foot long ; 

 blackish clouded with purple on the upper part, with 

 two red lines on the cheeks and sides of the neck; 

 under parts blackish ash : bill ash-coloured at the 

 base and point, but black in the middle. 



THE HOARY GREBE (P. poliocephalus). Eleven 

 inches long ; brown on the upper part, with the fea- 

 thers on the hoad and cheeks produced and tipped 

 with white ; the under part silvery white : found in 

 some parts of Australia. 



THE WHITE-WINGED GREBE (P. dominions) inha- 

 bits South America and the West Indies : blackish 

 on the upper part, greyish on the under spotted with 

 brown ; principal quills white with brown tips ; bill 

 black, and feet brow n, a very small species, not above 

 six or seven inches in length. There are many others, 

 some of which are found as far to the southward as 

 the very extremity of South America, but those which 

 we have enumerated, must serve as a specimen of' 

 birds, whose habits are so nearly alike that size and 

 colour are the leading specific distinctions. 



GREBE-COOT (Podoa). A genus of fin-footed 

 birds, bearing some resemblance to both the genera 

 of which their English name is compounded ; but still 

 having sufficient characters to require their separation 

 from both. They were at one time confounded with 

 the darters which, however, belong to another part of 

 the system, being entire webbed birds, and closely 

 allied to the pelicans. The present genus consist 

 chiefly of two species, the one African, and the other 

 American. The characters are : the bill as long as 

 the head, straight, cylindrical, with the point bent 

 downward and notched, the culmen distinct but de- 

 pressed ; the cutting edges of the upper mandible a 

 little enlarged, those of the under straight, and angular 

 toward the point. The nasal grooves deep and long ; 

 and the nostrils placed in the middle of each side of 

 the bill, lengthened and entirely opened ; the feet 

 short and placed far backward, and with the tarsi 

 rounded, instead of being flattened and margined as 

 in the grebes , the three front toes united by a lobed 

 membrane, but the hind toe free ; the wings of mean 

 length and pointed ; the first quill shorter than the 

 second, and the second and third the longest in the 

 wing ; the tail is very large, which forms a remarkable 

 distinction between these birds and the grebes. Their 

 manners have been but little studied ; but it appears 

 that they are not nearly so uquatic as either the 

 grebes or the coots. 



AMERICAN GREBE COOT (P. Sunnamensis). This 

 bird is found in various parts of South America. The 

 upper parts are dull brown, but the crown of the head 

 is furnished with long and pendent black feathers ; 

 the cheeks are yellowish brown ; the sides of the neck 

 streaked with black and white ; the eye streak white, 

 xtending the whole length of the neck ; the quills 

 laving a black band at the ends with a narrow white 

 margin; the bill ash-colour ; the feet yellowish brown 

 with the lobes streaked with black and white. The 

 ength about thirteen inches. It is described as 

 laving the head and neck constantly in motion ; and- 

 t is further added, that it is a dexterous fly-catcher. 

 Little is said of its manners, however, and it is doubt- 

 ul how far that little can be implicitly believed. 



AFRICAN GREBE COOT (P. Scncgalcnsu). This 

 species is found in western Africa. It is about the 

 size of a duck. The upper parts brown, mottled with 

 jlack on the middle of the back and sides of the 

 neck ; the top of the head and upper part of the neck 

 )Iackish ; a white streak from the gape over the eye 

 and down the sides of the neck ; all the under part 

 white with the exception of some mott lings of black 

 on the flanks ; tail slender, but very stiff. The manners 

 of this species are just as little known as those of the 

 "ormer. These birds have got the name of Jin-foot, 

 which is by no means a correct one, because it is the 

 distinguishing character of the sub-order to which 

 hey belong, or at least to several genera, belonging 

 )oth to this and to other parts of the system. 



