ON THE HABITS OF THE GREAT CRESTED GREBE. 21 
Although these Grebes incubated two eggs (having laid three) in 
1887, and three (out of four) in 1888, they only succeeded 
in rearing one young bird each year. ‘The presence in the 
pool of a number of large pike probably accounts for their 
ill success in this respect. The Great Crested Grebe has a 
variety of notes; one of these, the alarm-note as I think, 
which is most frequently uttered at dusk, is rather crow-like, 
and, to my ear, is well syllabled by Mr. Seebohm as “ croix.” 
Before incubation, the birds constantly utter a monotonous 
eall-note, which resembles “kek,” or “chek”; this note is 
sometimes repeated at the nest very rapidly and loudly, so that 
it then becomes a chatter analogous to the ery of the Dabchick. 
Lastly, there is the sonorous love-note of the male, which is, 
I think, an amplification of the note “ croix ;” and which, to my 
ear, resembles the syllables, “Gaw-oo-oorr,” pronounced while 
drawing in the breath, and’ with the final R well rattled. In 
uttering this peculiar cry the Grebe erects his crest and tippet, 
and inflates his cesophagus, presenting to human eyes a very 
ludicrous appearance. I believe that this note is confined to the 
male bird. The young bird utters a plaintive, cheeping note. 
No bird of my acquaintance preens itself so assiduously and 
frequently as the Great Crested Grebe, and this even when 
incubation is not going on.* I have often wondered whether this 
habit is to be attributed to personal vanity or to the presence of 
parasites. Sitting upon a wet nest is, of course, a very dirtying 
occupation, and it is amusing to watch the bird after a spell 
of it, lie on its side, in order better to preen the feathers that 
have been spoiled by the nest, and turn slowly round like a 
teetotum on the axis of the leg which remains in the water. The 
head and upper neck are kept in order by the feet, towards 
which they are bent backward along the centre of the back, the 
tarsus being turned upward, apparently over the back in a 
furward direction. Sometimes this bird gives its leg an inde- 
scribable flourish along or over the back, and almost at right 

* We have several times found in the stomachs of Grebes which we have 
dissected (i.e. in P. cristatus, rubricollis, and auritus) agglutinated oval 
masses of their own feathers, evidently swallowed during the process of 
preening, and similar to the well-known pellets ejected by hawks and 
owls. These, in all probability, would have been cast up in due time had 
the birds not been shot.—Ep. 
