Class II. GREAT CRESTED GREBE. isi 



X HIS species weighs two pounds and a half. Its Dfscrip- 

 length is twenty-one inches ; the breadth thirty. 

 The bill is two inches and a quarter long; 

 red at the base; black at the point; between 

 the bill and the eyes is a stripe of black naked 

 skin ; the irides are of a fine .pale red ; the 

 tongue is a third-part shorter than the bill, slen- 

 der, hard at the end, and a little divided; on 

 the head is a large dusky crest, separated in 

 the middle. The cheeks and throat are sur- 

 rounded with a long pendent ruff, of a bright 

 tawny color, edged with black; the chin is 

 white; from the bill to the eye is a black line, 

 and above that a white one; the hind part of 

 the neck, and the back are of a sooty hue ; the 

 rump, for it wants a tail, is covered with long soft 

 down. The covert feathers on the second and 

 third joints of the wing, and the under coverts 

 are white ; all the other wing feathers, except the • 



secondaries, are dusky, those being white ; the 

 breast and belly are of a most beautiful silvery 

 white, glossy as sattin; the plumage under the 

 wings is dusky, blended with tawny; the out- 

 side of the legs, and the bottom of the feet are 

 dusky; the inside of tlie legs, and the toes of a , ; 



pale green. 



K 2 



