184* C'OLYMBIDyE. 



THE RED-NECKED GREBE. 



Podiceps rubricollis, Gmel. (sp.) 

 Colynibus „ „ 



Is only known as an extremely rare Avinter visitant. 



It is the rarest of the grebes in Ireland. The first recorded 

 specimen that came under my inspection was an immature one 

 procured late in the autumn of 1831 (by Dr. J. D, Marshall), from 

 the captain of a vessel, who shot it on the coast of Down :* it is 

 preserved in the BeKast Museum.f One wliich I have seen in 

 collection of Mr. Warren, of Dublin, was noted as sent to the 

 metropolis from the county of Wexford, on the 24th of February, 

 1838 ; but as the note was not made until some time after the 

 receipt of the bird, possibly it may be the same individual that a 

 correspondent informed me had been found on the shore near 

 Arklow, on the 1st of that month. J It was said to be a female, 

 and to agree with Jenyus^ description of the " young at the age 

 of two years." One was shot in December 1842, at the mouth 

 of i\\Q Glengariff river, Bantry Bay, by Mr. G. Jackson, game- 

 keeper, and was the only individual he ever met with. In the 

 collection of Mr. John Watters, jun,, DubHn, I have seen a spe- 

 cimen of this grebe, stated to have been shot on a lake at Sandy- 

 mount, near that city, on the 21th of January, 1848. One only 

 of these birds has come under my examination in a recent state. 

 It was shot in Belfast Bay on the 23rd of Eebruary, 1850, where 

 it had been observed for the few preceding days, and was alone 

 all the time. The following notes were made on it a few hours 

 after death, and previous to its being skinned. 



* Zoolog. Proceediugs, 1835, p. 79. 



t In Templeton's catalogue, one of these birds is stated to have been " caught in 

 thrf spring of 1797, at Beers Bridge, county Down;" but probably the little grebe 

 {P. minor) in its red-necked summer plumage is meant, as I have received specimens 

 from that locality, where it breeds. 



% Mr. H. n. Dombrain. 



