2i4 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



and skirting the black chin and centre of the throat ; sides of 

 neck and fore-neck ashy-brown ; remainder of under surface 

 white, thickly mottled with blackish centres to the feathers ; 

 sides of lower back and rump dark brown, with a slight reddish 

 tinge, the feathers on the lower part of the abdomen darker 

 grey ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white : " Bill milk- 

 white, crossed past the middle by a black band, the terminal 

 portion more bluish; eyelids white ; naked lores bluish; iris 

 rich dark brown, with an outer ring of ochraceous white, and 

 an inner thread-like ring of pure white ; tarsi and toes greenish 

 slate-black on the outer, and plumbeous on the inner side " 

 (ft. Ridgway). Total length, 13*0 inches; culmen, i'o; 

 wing, 5-35 ; tail, 1-5; tarsus, 1-5. 



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

 Total length, io'o inches; wing, 47. 



Winter Plumage. Brown above, with no black on the throat, 

 which is white ; otherwise as in the summer plumage, but the 

 sides of the face are brown, and the lower throat, fore-neck, 

 and sides of neck are rufous-brown ; " bill, horn-colour, becom- 

 ing blackish basally, and on the culmen ; lower mandible 

 more lilaceous, with a dusky lateral stripe ; iris of three dis- 

 tinct colours, disposed in concentric rings, the first (around 

 the pupil) clear milk-white, the next dark olive-brown, the 

 outer pale ochraceous-brown, the dark ring reticulated into 

 the lighter; tarsi and toes greenish -slate, the joints darker" 

 (R. Ridgway). 



Range in Great Britain. A specimen of this Grebe was 

 exhibited by me at a meeting of the Zoological Society on 

 the 2ist of June, 1881. It was brought to the British 

 Museum by Mr. R. W. Munro, who stated that it had been 

 killed at Radipole, near We)- mouth, in January, 1881. I 

 took much pains to assure myself of the genuineness of the 

 occurrence, and as the bird was sold to Mr. Munro as a Little 

 Grebe, there does not seem to have been any attempt at 

 deception. Mr. J. E. Harting, however, throws doubt on it, 

 as he says that the specimen " showed remains of longitudinal 

 dark stripes on the neck, which are observable in the young 

 of all the Grebes." Mr. Harting should have added that 

 these dusky streaks are often retained by the young Grebes of 



