68 Mr. Gordon Dalguesh,


A friend of mine at the British Museum once pointed out

to me slight differences in the size of the bill of the Indian bird

to that of the European one, the Indian ones being smaller, but

I doubt if these differences are constant.



2. PODICIPES NIGRICOLLIS, Brehm.


The Black-necked Grebe.


Podicipes nigricollis . C. L. Brehm, Volg. Deutschl, p. 693 (1831) ;

Hume, Cat. No. 947 bis ; Barnes, Birds of Bombay, p. 419 ;

Podicipes nigricollis ; Blanford, F. B. I. Birds, vol. iv. p. 454 ;

Dalgliesh, Zool. (1902) p. 454.


Found sparingly at Karachi, common on the Mekran

Coast ; once recorded from Calcutta by Mr. F. Finn, who

obtained alive a specimen there in the Market. This is the

rarest of the Indian Grebes and is not known to have ever

bred in India. I believe I saw once a specimen of this bird

in Tirhoot Bengal, but as I did not shoot it the record is not

wholly satisfactory. As I can find nothing respecting this bird's

habits in India, I shall quote a few remarks on them as observed

in England by Mr. O. Y. Apliu {Zoologist, Nov. 1904, p. 417). He

says: "This bird which we watched for an hour or so, did not

feed in the open water, but passed from one bed of pond weed to

another, frequently diving for short periods in a limited area.

.... When both birds of a pair were side by side, the larger

size of the male bird was quite apparent, but little or no differ-

ence was to be seen in the plumage of the sexes. The neck,

black before and behind, was clearly divided from the dull white

of the breast and belly (the colour of the under parts was only

seen when the birds raised themselves in the water and flapped

their wings, or rolled on one side to preen themselves) ; when

they flapped their wings the white on the primaries and secon-

daries showed clearly. A black frontal crest stood up, showing

off the silky ear coverts which shone like golden oat straw ; eyes

a bright clear ruby, something like a ripe red-currant with the

light shining through it ; bill black. The rufous feathers of the

flanks, which covered much of the wings when the birds were

swimming in a normal position, shone in the sun with a bronze



