180 COLYMBID.E. 



to Montagu's having obtained feathers in the red-necked and the 

 crested species, it is asked — " Are these to be considered as ana- 

 logous to bezoars ?" (p. 132.) Mr. Allis, of York, states that 

 " in the stomachs of the larger grebes" he has " uniformly found 

 a considerably- sized ball composed principally of feathers."* The 

 Rev. T. KnoX; in a contribution to Loudon^s ' Magazine of Na- 

 tural History' (vol. ix. p. 302), remarked on one of these birdsf 

 received by him on the 5th of January, 1836; — its "first sto- 

 mach contained tliree perch, one iive inches long and quite per- 

 fect, and the colours almost as bright as if just taken ; the giz- 

 zard, which was very muscular, contained a gi'eat mass of feathers, 

 and among them two or three perch partly digested, one of them 

 three inches and three-quarters long, another one inch and a half. 

 I washed the feathers, and, on comparison, found that they cor- 

 responded with those on the sides of the bird under the wing, or 

 with those on the tliigh. They were chiefly in a half digested 

 state, and, as there were no traces of them on the lower intestines, 

 it appears extremely probable that they may be finally assimilated 

 with the food : or, is it necessary, in the economy of the larger 

 species of grebe, that the gizzard should be always full ?" Au- 

 dubon, in describing an American species, the Vodiceps Caroli- 

 neiisis, mentions having taken from their gizzards " a quantity of 

 a feather-like substance, which he found to be the down of certain 

 plants, such as thistles, &c." It is likewise remarked that he has 

 obtained " similar substances in the stomach of many individuals 

 of Podiceps cristatug"X (Orn. Biog. vol. iii. p. 362). He states, 

 at p. 432, under Tod'iceps cornutns, " I have observed, in the sto- 

 machs of almost all that I have examined, a quantity of hair-like 

 substances rolled together like the pellets of owls, but have not 

 ascertained whether or not these matters are disgorged. They 

 certainly cannot pass through the intestines. But unless birds 



* Loudon's Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. v. p. 733. 



t This individual is doubtfully called Podiceps cristatus in the communication ; — 

 having, with other grebes, been sent to Dublin for my examination, it proved to be 

 that species. 



\ I cannot but think that the light downy feathers of the bird were mistaken for 

 the seeds of plants, which they superficially resemble. 



