514 



Family PODICIPEDHXE3. 



GREAT CRESTED GREBE. Podicipes cristatus (Linnaeus). 



Coloured Figures. Gould, ' Birds of Great Britain,' vol. v, pi. 

 38 ; Dresser, ' Birds of Europe,' vol. viii, pi. 629 ; 

 Lilford, ' Coloured Figures,' vol. vi, pi. 48 ; Booth, 'Bough 

 Notes,' vol. iii, pi. 20. 



This fine bird, distinguished from other Grebes by its 

 superior size, and remarkable for its head-appendages 

 assumed during the nuptial season, is not uncommon in the 

 British Isles. It is resident to a considerable extent, and is 

 somewhat widely distributed over large sheets of fresh water, 

 to which it is on the whole more partial than to the tide. 

 Its favourite haunts are quiet sequestered lagoons, lakes, 

 and ponds, where the waters are deep and still, and where 

 reeds, sedges, and other aquatic vegetation afford shelter and 

 concealment. Though the large lakes are most frequented, 

 yet this Grebe may occasionally be observed lurking amid 

 the sedges of quite a small pond. Artificial waters, such as 

 the reservoirs of the midlands of England, are also visited. 

 On the Broads of Norfolk this species is quite common as 

 a breeding-bird. 



Like other Grebes it is wont to change its quarters in 

 winter, migrating from lakes to rivers or to tidal waters. 

 Small parties may consort together in bays and estuaries 

 though the species is not strictly gregarious. In hard 

 weather when lakes and rivers become frost-bound, numbers 

 appear along the sea-coast. 



The attitude of the Great Crested Grebe when swim- 

 ming is very graceful. Its neck, long and slender, is 

 carried erect, its head straight or with a slight downward 

 droop. Thus on the water the carriage offers a contrast to 

 that of the Cormorant which, though carrying its neck 

 erect, points its head upwards at such an angle, that the 

 throat appears unduly stretched as though the bird were 

 endeavouring to swallow forcibly an object too large for its 



