GREAT CRESTED GREBE. 405 



found in the Outer Hebrides: "According to Mr Cassin, the 

 American " sheldrake" or goosander differs from the European in 

 having the prolonged feathers of the head almost restricted to the 

 occiput and neck behind, while in the other species they begin 

 almost at the base of the bill, and are erectile and crest like. On 

 the greater wing coverts of the American bird there is always an 

 exposed and conspicuous bar of black, which in the European is 

 entirely concealed by the lesser coverts. Bonaparte says that the 

 bill of the American species is shorter and thicker." It may be 

 added that the last mentioned author in describing the bird calls 

 it only a variety (Mergus castor Var. Americanus), and in this 

 I think he is right. 



NA TA TORES. COL YMBID.E. 



THE GREAT CRESTED GREBE. 

 PODICEPS CRIST AT US. 



THE Great Crested Grebe has come less frequently under my 

 notice in the West of Scotland than any of the other grebes. I 

 have, indeed, seen but one recent specimen for some years. 

 Mr Elwes informs me that he has observed it once or twice 

 on Loch Indaal, Islay. It has been more frequently obtained 

 on the east coast, and may be said to be a well known visitor 

 in the winter season to the larger estuaries. On the Forth it 

 has been repeatedly captured: one was taken as far inland as 

 Stirling. At Dunbar it has also occurred; and on the river 

 Tyne, near that town, specimens have been several times procured. 

 Some of our bird stuffers seem not to be able to distinguish between 

 this and the next- mentioned species. During the past winter two 

 or three red-necked grebes were shown to me both in Edinburgh 

 and Glasgow as specimens of the Great Crested Grebe: the latter, 

 however, may always be easily recognised by its more slender bill, 

 and having the base of the under mandible of a carmine colour; 

 in the former species the colour is yellow. 



The habits of this bird are well described by Audubon in the 

 third volume of his ' Ornithological Biography : ' it appears to make 

 a much more frequent use of its wings than other grebes, and is 

 described as migrating in flocks of seven or eight to fifty or more, 

 passing swiftly in the air at about a hundred yards from the ground, 



