BIRDS 133 



(four or more) are yellow-white, soon becoming stained. This species feeds 

 on corn, grass, and roots. 



[Note. The geese are famous for their formation in flight, travelling in 

 " skeins " A or " gaggles " M. A century or more ago the Greylag bred 

 in large numbers in our fens, where the young were caught, and kept with 

 flocks of tame geese. The cry is a loud clanging " Honk-honk."] 



Grebe, Great Crested. The largest and handsomest of the Grebes, dis- 

 tributed over the greater part of Great Britain, wherever there is open water 

 and reeds, during the spring and summer, but migrating to the sea invariably 

 in winter from November to February. The bird is an expert swimmer and 

 diver, and can sink its body till only its head and neck can be seen. It feeds 

 chiefly on small fish and aquatic larvae and vegetation. Both birds join in 

 building the nest, a mass of floating water plants, anchored amid reeds, or 

 built up from the bottom. Here four chalky white or slightly blue-tinted 

 eggs are laid (always covered by the bird with some of the debris of the nest 

 when leaving it, and hence soon becoming stained a dirty brown). A charming 

 trait of the parent birds is their habit of carrying their young on their backs, 

 one at a time, when first hatched, for a sun bath. This generally falls to the 

 " father's " share. 



The species is undoubtedly coloured " protectively," for whilst the birds 

 are visible enough on open water, they become difficult to see against a back- 

 ground of weeds. The bird is distinguished by its large size and long beak. The 

 upper parts are a dark brown ; the under parts a most beautiful satiny white. 

 In breeding plumage, there are two tufts of feathers, like little horns or ears, 

 on the head, and a rich chestnut frill round the head, which can be erected 

 like an old-fashioned " ruff." Like its " family," the Great Crested Grebe has 

 practically no tail, and the toes are lobed. 



[The RED-NECKED GREBE is only a rare winter visitor on the eastern sea- 

 board ; the SLAVONIAN GREBE is known to breed on one loch in Scotland, 

 otherwise only a cold- weather visitor; the BLACK-NECKED, or EARED, GREBE 

 is equally rare.] 



Grouse, Black (BLACKCOCK <$, GREYHEN 9, BLACKGAME). Known at once 

 by its lyre-shaped tail, its black plumage with blue metallic lustre (male), and 

 large patch of white under the tail. The female is brown and buff-marked, 

 with bars and freckles of lighter colour. The male has a prominent wattle 

 of red above the eye. In July to September the male's black becomes mixed 

 with brown feathers. 



The bird is diminishing in the British Isles ; very scarce in the South, breed- 

 ing chiefly in the North of England and hi Scotland. The nest is a scrape 

 made by the hen in woods or open country, scantily lined, containing six to ten 

 eggs, yellow-white, slightly spotted and blotched with red or orange-brown. 



The bird utters a hoarse cry when challenging, and a curious call, like 

 " a cat on the housetops." 



Gull, Glaucous. This species has no black upon it at all. Upper parts 



