110 GKKE11 CKESTKD GllEBE. 



shot near Yarmouth, on the 14th. of April, 1851; they are 

 common on the Broads, and breed there: twenty-nine were 

 collected in the same county, in the months of April and 

 May,, 1851, by Richard Strangwayes. Esq.; one at Diss Mere, 

 the end of July, 1834. One of these birds, a male, was shot 

 in February, 1850, at Blyth, in Northumberland. One on the 

 27th. of November, 1852, near Henley-upon-Thames, in Oxford- 

 shire. In Cornwall, they are not uncommon off the coast in 

 winter; also in Devon. 



In Wales, Mr. Dillwyn has noticed this species in Glamor- 

 ganshire. 



In Scotland, it is considered rather a rare winter visitor. 

 They breed in the Hebrides. 



In Ireland, it is a perennial resident on the larger lakes, 

 but is only occasionally seen. 



Their haunts are lakes, ponds, rivers, and creeks of the 

 sea, if these indeed are bordered with reeds and other such 

 covert. In winter frost and ice send them down to the 

 mouths of rivers and the coast. 



Towards evening this species becomes active and lively, 

 having previously been disposed to float about quietly, with 

 the head drawn back on the plumage. 



They migrate in small and large flocks of from seven or 

 eight to fifty or more, during the night, taking advantage of 

 warm weather. When 'Gaffer Winter' is creeping on, they 

 pass to the south, and in March return in pairs to their 

 intended breeding-places. 



The skin of the breast of this Grebe has become a fashionable 

 substitute for fur, and several were exhibited accordingly in 

 the Great Exhibition of 1851. They appear to go in small 

 numbers of eight or nine in the water. One of these birds 

 has been kept on the water in St. James' Park, London. 



These birds can fly well, and to a distance of a couple of 

 miles or more; but during the time that they ars engaged 

 with their nest, they resort exclusively to diving, in which 

 they are perfect adepts, for security, raising the head only 

 above water to breathe, after a stretch of a couple of hundred 

 yards. They do not excel in walking or running, but swim 

 admirably, and dive with remarkable quickness: they float 

 low. The female, 'if disturbed from her charge, seldom rises 

 within gunshot, and if a boat be stationed to intercept her, 

 will tack about and alter her course under water, without 

 rising to breathe.' 



