BRITISH BIRDS 165 



season, red, but afterwards changes to dusky: 

 irides, fine pale crimson. The head is furnished 

 with a great quantity of feathers, which form a kind 

 of rufF,* surrounding the upper part of the neck; 

 those on each side of the head, behind, are longer 

 than the rest, and stand out like ears: this rufF is 

 of a bright ferruginous colour, edged on the under 

 side with black. The upper parts v of the plumage 

 are of a sooty or mouse-coloured brown; under 

 parts glossy or silvery white ; the inner ridge of the 

 wing is white; the secondaries the same, forming 

 an oblique bar across the wings, when closed: the 

 outside of the legs is dusky, the inside and toes 

 pale green. 



This species is common in the fens and lakes in 

 various parts of England, where they breed and 

 rear their young. The female conceals her nest 

 among the flags and reeds \vhich grow in the water, 

 upon which it is said to float, and that she hatches 

 her eggs amidst the moisture which oozes through 

 it. It is made of various kinds of dried fibres, 

 stalks and leaves of water plants, and (Pennant 

 says) of the roots of bugbane, stalks of water-lily, 

 pond- weed, and water- violet : when it happens to 

 be blown from among the reeds, it floats about 

 upon the surface of the open water. 



These birds are met with in almost every lake in 

 the northern parts of Europe, as far as Iceland, and 

 southward to the Mediterranean ; they are also 

 found in various parts of America. 



* The greater number of the Grebes, when in full plumage, are 

 provided (without distinction of sex) with feathers forming a crest 

 or ruff. 



