THE GREAT-CRESTED GREBE. 181 



of this kind are kept in an aviary and watched, this matter must 

 remain unknown." Mr. Yarrell remarks that " there is cause to 

 suspect these birds [grebes] reproduce at will from the stomach 

 the more indigestible parts of their last meal, as hawks, owls, 

 shrikes, and some other birds are known to do.''^ 



The stomachs of great-crested grebes which came under my 

 examination contained as follows : — April 1, 1835 ; — that of an 

 adult bird from a lake in the county Cavan was, apparently, quite 

 filled with feathers, but on looking carefully among them, I de- 

 tected the bones, scales, &c., of a small fish and the remains of 

 some aquatic insects : the feathers did not consist wholly of those 

 of the breast and under parts, but some partially black and brown, 

 such as compose the crest, appeared : it is therefore evident that 

 they do not always restrict themselves, as has been stated, to the 

 feathers of the under surface of their bodies, March 28 and 

 April 27, 1838; — adult birds killed at Loughgall, had their sto- 

 machs filled with their own feathers. December 10 and 27, 181<1 ; 

 — an old male obtained at Lough Neagli at the former date, and 

 an immature bird shot on or near it (sent from Castledawson to the 

 BeKast Museum) were apparently filled with feathers ; but among 

 them, in one specimen, were some small Crustacea {Gammanis 

 aquations). March 2, 1847 ; — of two male birds (one adult and 

 the other in the next stage to being so) from the neighbourhood 

 of Portumna, one was filled with feathers and the other nearly so, 

 but in it were the remains of fislies ; both contained black and 

 brown, as well as white feathers. One, procm'ed on the 15tli of 

 April, 1849, had, in addition to the usual feathers, many bones 

 of fishes, fragments of coleopterous insects, and a few portions of 

 the stems of vegetables. March 30, 1850; — an old bird killed 

 on Lough Neagh contained bones of fishes among a large mass 

 of feathers ; the entire contents, as usual, having a greenish tinge, 

 owing, we may presume, to a secretion from the stomach. An 

 adult, obtained on the 13th of ]\lay, the same year, on that lake, 

 had the stomach densely packed with feathers, among which were 

 small bones and ' ear-bones ' of fishes, and the remains of coleop- 

 terous insects. 



