Great-Crested Grebe. 501 



the body. The English word ' Grebe ' is from an old Breton word 

 signifying 'crested ' or 'tufted with feathers ' (Skeat). In France 

 it is Grebe huppt ; in Germany, Gehaubter Steissfuss ; in Italy, 

 Colimbo crestato ; in Sweden, Hvit strupig Dopping, ' White- 

 throated Dipper ' ; in Portugal, this and all the other species 

 known there are called in common Mergulldo, ' Diver.' Its nest 

 consists of a mass of wet sedge or half-rotten decayed water- 

 plants floating on the surface of the water, and how the eggs are 

 hatched in such moisture seems extraordinary. This nest is so 

 fastened to the reeds amongst which it is placed that it cannot 

 be driven away by the wind ; and (strange to say) near each nest 

 is a second platform, or pad of sedge, upon which the male bird 

 rests while his mate is sitting. When the Grebes are alarmed 

 they immediately sink, without splash, in the water, and dive away 

 for security ; and when the young are hatched the parent birds 

 will on emergency take them down under their wings for safety 

 when they dive, the young birds being placed with their heads 

 towards the tail, and their bills resting on the back of the 

 parent. Though necessarily only an occasional straggler in Wilt- 

 shire, where we have no large lakes suited to its habits, I have 

 several instances of its occurrence. Mr. Elgar Sloper informs 

 me that a young male in his collection was shot on the Kennet 

 and Avon Canal near Devizes in February, 1839. Mr. Withers 

 had an immature specimen sent to him for preservation which 

 was killed at Enford ; Mr. Marsh possessed a female shot on the 

 Avon in February, 1838 ; and Lord Methuen has one killed on 

 the water at Corsham Court. 



206. RED-NECKED GREBE (Podiceps rabricollis). 



This is a smaller species than the last, and if not a more rare 

 visitor to our coasts, is more rarely noticed, as it prefers salt 

 water to fresh, and being an inhabitant of more northern 

 latitudes, only comes to us in winter. It is said, when diving, 

 ' to dart through thick entangled masses of weeds and grass with 

 the ease and rapidity of the fish/ but not to use its wings under 

 water, as from the very weedy nature of the lakes or streams 



