T94 AI.LKN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



I. THE GREAT CRESTED GREIiE. LOPH^ETHYIA CRISTATA. 



Colymbus cri status, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 222(1766). 

 Podiceps eristotiis, Macgili. Brit. B. v.. p. 250 (1852); Dresser, 



B. Kur. viii. p. 629, pi. 629 (1879) ; B. O. U. List Brit. B. 



p. 202 (1883) ; Saunders, ed. YarrelFs Brit. B. iv. p. 1 1 7 



(1884); Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B. iii. p. 445 (1885); 



Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B. part xviii. (1891). 

 Podicipes cristatus, Saunders, Man. Brit. B. p. 701 (1889). 



Adult Male in Breeding Plumage. General colour above black, 

 the feathers with obscure brown edges ; scapulars and wing- 

 coverts like the back, the lesser series forming a white band along 

 the carpal edge of the wing ; quills also bhck, the secondaries 

 white, the inner ones white, externally more or less brown, and 

 the innermost secondaries like the back ; tail blackish ; crown 

 of head black, expanding into a crest or tuft of long plumes on 

 each side of the nape; the lores white with a reddish tinge, 

 continued in a narrow line over the eye; the sides of the 

 crown, sides of face, fore-part of cheeks and ear-coverts, 

 white ; sides of hinder crown, hind part of ear-coverts and 

 cheeks, orange-chestnut, tipped with black, forming a very 

 wide frill, which nearly meets on the throat; entire under- 

 surface of body silky white, with a tinge of vinous chestnut on 

 the fore-neck and sides of body, the latter mottled with 

 blackish centres to the feathers ; under wing-coverts and 

 axillaries white ; " bill red ; the bare space between the eye and 

 the base of the bill blackish ; legs and feet olive-green ; iris 

 crimson" (H. Seebohm). Total length, 20 inches ; culmen, 2*2 : 

 wing, 7*2; tail, i'6; tarsus, 2^4. 



Adult Female. Similar to the male, but slightly smaller. 

 Total length, 18 inches ; wing, 6*9. 



Winter Plumage. The colour of the back and of the under- 

 surface is much the same as in the summer plumage, but is a 

 little greyer, and there is no ruddy tinge on the sides of the 

 body, which are dusky brown. The wings are also the same 

 at both seasons of the year. The red tippet, however, is lost, 

 and the crown of the head is blackish, but the lateral crest is 

 indicated by elongated feathers extending to each side of the 

 nape ; lores and a streak over the eye, white. In a male 



