380 BRITISH BIRDS. 



says, were at hand. The allied L. Philadelphia, Ord.,. 

 habitually nests in trees up to about twenty feet. 



Slavonian Grebe breeding in Scotland. — At the 

 meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club held on 

 February 16th, 1910, Mr. W. R. Ogilvie-Grant made the 

 interesting announcement that the Slavonian Grebe (Podicipes 

 auritus) had been found nesting on a small highland loch in 

 Inverness-shire in 1908 and 1909 (cf. Bull. B.O.C., xxv., pp. 

 75-6). Mr. Hugh M. Warrand supplied Mr. Ogilvie-Grant 

 with the following particulars, and lent for exhibition one of the 

 birds which had most unfortunately been shot. Mr. Warrand 

 wrote : — 



" The year before last, in the beginning of June, I obtained per- 

 mission for myself and a friend to fish on a small reedy sheet of 

 water in the hills of Inverness-shire. The day being very warm and 

 bright, few fish were rising, so we landed and lay down by a rock on 

 the shore. While waiting there I observed some bird moving among 

 the reeds near us, and presently noticed that it was swimming round 

 a pile of green reed-stalks like a Coot's nest. At first I thought it 

 was a Coot, but when it came into full view I noticed the peculiar 

 head with its sweeping crests of buff, and knew that it was a bird that 

 I had not seen before. I called the attention of my friend and also of 

 the keeper to it, and we all observed it for some time swimming 

 restlessly about the nest among the reeds and evidently longing for 

 our departure. I regret to say that the next time I saw this Grebe it 

 was lying dead in a bird-stuffer's shop, and I was told whence it had 

 come and who had brought it — facts which have since been fully 

 corroborated. I had hoped that it would have been left in peace to 

 establish a family, and greatly deplored its death. I was cheered, 

 however, to learn the following yeSr (1909) that one or two pairs had 

 appeared on the same loch, but soon afterwards heard that the nests 

 had been ruthlessly robbed by a private egg-collector." 



This is a southward extension of the breeding range of the 

 Slavonian Grebe, which is an annual winter- visitor to Great 

 Britain. It has, however, been suspected of breeding near 

 Gairloch, in Ross-shire (cf. Saunders, p. 721, and Ann. S.N.H., 

 1892, p. 171), and there is considerable, though not conclu- 

 sive, evidence of its having bred in Benbecula (Outer Hebrides) 

 in 1893, and two were shot in full summer-plumage in April, 

 1898, in Barra, and another on May 13th, 1907, at Arisaig 

 (Inverness), while others have been observed in Orkney in 

 April, May, and June (cf. antea, p. 31). 



