Vol. xxxix. ] 32 
“As few people in this country have any first-hand 
acquaintance with the Black-necked Grebe in its nesting- 
haunts, some extracts from my note-books regarding the 
appearance and behaviour of the birds may not be out of 
place. 
‘In life the silky yellow ear-coverts are not folded closely 
as represented in most figures, but, radiating from a centre, 
occupy a third of a circle and show as golden rays against 
the black cheeks. In conjunction with the upstanding 
frontal crest, the tip-tilted bill, and crimson eye, they 
contribute not a little to the bizarre appearance of the bird. 
The young for the first few days are much darker in colour 
than. Great Crested Grebes of the same age and resemble 
young Dabchicks, but the stripes on the neck and body are 
more obscure than in either. At four weeks the stripes on 
the body are imperceptible and those on the neck difficult 
to make out, even with a glass, at a distance of a few yards. 
The birds are then dark ash-grey with fore-neck, breast, and 
cheeks white, and at a little distance look like young Coots 
rather than Grebes. Their rate of growth is astonishing. 
A couple of days makes a perceptible difference in their 
size and at six weeks they are more than two-thirds the size 
of the adults. The rate of growth in the Great Crested 
Grebe, and I think the Dabchick too, is much slower. The 
curious habit that Grebes have of protruding and wagging 
a foot behind them is practised early in life, for several 
times we saw a young one do so whilst on the old one’s 
back. 
“Before nesting actually began there was evideace that 
the Black-neck engages in nuptial displays akin to those of 
the Great Crested Grebe, but unfortunately the performance 
which Mr. L. Huxley (P.Z. 8. 1914, pp. 491-562) calls a 
‘shaking bout, although often observed, was always 
engaged in at too great distance for details of pose and of 
the disposition of the plumage to be appreciated. Mr. Aplin 
(loc. cit.) refers to a bout between two birds that had a 
young brood, and such a thing may be not uncommon; it 
certainly is not in the case of the Great Crested Grebe. On 
