1 70 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 



Grebe is exceptionally remarkable for its nuptial 

 ornaments, but which, as usual, are confined to the 

 head and upper neck. Two chestnut or bay- 

 coloured crests start backwards over the eyes, 

 whilst the tippet is black. This ornament, when 

 extended to its utmost, looks very beautiful, and 

 gives the head an appearance of being surrounded 

 by a glittering aureole. This Grebe is a late 

 breeder, the eggs not being laid before June. It 

 retires to fresh -water pools for the purpose of 

 nesting, and resembles the other species closely in 

 its habits at this season, making a slovenly floating 

 nest, and laying four or five dull white eggs. 



LITTLE GREBE. 



This species is the smallest of the European 

 Grebes, and certainly by far the best known 

 member of the family found in the British Islands. 

 It is rather remarkable that the Little Grebe was 

 unknown as a distinct species to Linnaeus. It was 

 known to Brisson as Colymbus minor, and to most 

 modern ornithologists as Podicipes minor, although 

 some few writers speak of this bird as P. fluviatilis. 

 Outside the British Islands it has a very wide 

 distribution in Europe, Asia, and Africa, but the 

 Little Grebe of America is a distinct species. The 

 Little Grebe is found more or less frequently on 

 the coast during winter, driven thereto when frosts 

 seal up its inland haunts. On the coast this bird is 

 more partial to the brackish back-waters, dykes, 



