THE GEEAT-CllESTED GREBE. 177 



The name of tlppd grebe was bestowed on tliis species in 

 consequence of its plumage being used by ladies in the now, 

 exploded adornments bearing that name, and consequently the 

 poor birds were much persecuted. But, though tippets are to 

 be numbered with the things that were, we have the indubitable 

 authority of my friend Mr. Yarrell, that grebe-skins are still 

 "in great request for making into muffs^ for ladies, or, more 

 frequently, to cut up into narrow strips as trimming for pelisses." 

 Pennant (in 1776), writing of their "beautiful skins," mentions 

 that " the under side of them being drest with the feathers on, 

 are made into mutfs and tippets ; each bird sells for about four- 

 teen shillings, * * "^ as high a price as those that come 

 from Geneva : * * ^ its skin is out of season about February, 

 losing then its bright colour : and in the breeding-time its breast 

 is almost bare."t The Lake of Geneva has always been a great 

 resort of this species, and in the admirable memoir of M. Necker 

 on the birds of the neighbourhood of the city of that name, the 

 Focliceps cristatus is fully descanted on.| Towards the end of 

 October numbers of young birds arrive there, and become objects 

 of the chase. The mode of proceeding is fully described (p. 85), 

 and it is stated that many boats are occupied during winter in 

 the pursuit of the grebe, which is often very lucrative, as for each 

 bird the furriers give from six to eight francs. Mr. Yarrell, too, 

 (p. 301) pubhshes an account of grebe-hunting on the Lake of 

 Geneva, communicated to him by an English gentleman who had 

 been witness to the sport. Li 18 iC, I was informed by M. Alex. 

 P. Prevost of Geneva, that the bird had then become very scarce 

 on the lake. Mr. Selby (p. 395) briefly describes the chase of one 

 of these grebes by Sir William Jardine and himself, on a lake in 

 the vicinity of Eotterdam ; — " an hour and a half's severe exer- 



* They are always on sale in Dubliu for ladies' cuffs, for a pair of wliich the skin 

 of one bird is requisite. Seeing tliree pair exhibited in a furrier's window there in 

 July 1850, I inquired the price, which was only 7s. 6d. a pair. They were stated to 

 liave been brought from Switzerland. 



t Pennant describes the species as two, under the names of tippet etud great- 

 crested grebe. 



X Mc'raoires Soc. Tiiys. and d'Hist. Nat. Geneve, vol. ii. (1823). 



VOL. III. N 



