on the Indian Podicipedidce. 71


this species. I have never seen the pair of birds whose actions I

have noted in any but full adult summer plumage at any time.

It is possible, of course, that this pair are abnormal, or very old

individuals, but there is no proof of this ; and the} r are free birds

leading a perfectly normal life." In this I cannot agree, and I

have never seen the birds in mid-winter in anything but the

usual winter dress, and very likely, as Mr. Finn himself suggests,

these birds of his wei'e abnormal.


The usual number of eggs I have found were from three to

five, pure white when first laid, but like all Grebes' eggs they

soon get soiled by the action of decaying vegetation on which

the3 T are laid. If a side-blown egg of any of the Grebes be held

to the light it will be seen that the inner texture is a most delicate

and beautiful green. All Grebes, especially the Dabchick, have

a most peculiar odour that clings persistently to the skin, even

after it has dried and lain for years in a cabinet.


It would never do in a paper of this sort to pass over in

silence the so-called Sikhim White Grebe, and I cannot do better

than quote what Blanford says : "A single specimen of a peculiar

whitish Grebe was obtained by the late Mr. Mandelli from a lake

in Native Sikhim. No other skin has been obtained. At Mr.

Mandelli's request I described the birds as Podiceps albescens.

The skin is, by most ornithologists who have examined it,

thought to be a partial albino of P. albipennis. ... I add

a description. Broad forehead, sides of head anteriorly, includ-

ing the orbits and chin, black ; hind neck and upper neck chest-

nut all round, lower hind neck brownish ; remainder of plumage

white, except the primaries, which are brown ; feathers of the

back, scapulars, and secondaries with dark brown shaft stripes.

Bill and feet coloured as in P. albipennis. Wing 375 ; tarsus i'3."


I have examined the skin now in the British Museum, and,

if I may offer an opinion, I should certainly say that it is merely

a variety of P. albipennis, though Dabchicks, as a rule, are not

subject to variation. In March 1900, on the Hattowrie lake in

Darbhanga, Bengal, on more than one occasion I myself saw a

peculiar whitish specimen of P. albipennis, but though I went

out for the express purpose of shooting it, I failed to do so. It

may, perhaps, not be out of place here to mention that I have a



