THE EARED GREBE. 189 



remain permanently in Sutherland.'^ Nothing is said of its nest 

 having been observed in either place. A few pair are believed 

 to breed in England. 



Audubon gives an excellent account of this bird from his own 

 observation. t 



THE EARED GREBE. 



Podiceps auritus, Linn, (sp.) 

 Colymhus ,, „ 



Can only be recorded with certainty as an extremely rare 

 winter visitant. 



One was shot in January or February 1835, in Belfast Bay, when 

 two young horned grebes were likewise obtained. On the 30tli 

 of November, 1846, two eared grebes were killed at a shot in 

 Belfast Bay after a few nights of severe frost, accompanied by 

 snow ; but either these individuals, or birds of the same species, 

 had been seen singly in the bay for the preceding two months. 

 The first time that they appeared in company was the day of their 

 death. Two of the wild-fowl shooters attempted, but in vain, to 

 procure the birds when observed singly. The rapidity of their 

 movements under water surprised them, as " one moment they 

 would be close to the shore, and the next far out in the water." 

 Grebes are very seldom seen in this bay. The two fowlers alluded 

 to, though shooting here regularly for a period of from fifteen to 

 twenty years, had never observed any grebes but these two, except- 

 ing the Podiceps minor. One of them was so injured as to be unfit 

 for preservation; the other was set up for the Belfast Museum. 

 Their irides were vermilion-red. On dissection, both were ascer- 

 tained to be males. Theii" stomachs exliibited quantities of feathers 

 from different parts of their bodies, among which were several of 

 a black colour from their dorsal plumage. They contained two large 

 specimens of the doubly-spotted goby {Gobius Ridhensparii), a 



* St. John's ' Tour,' &c. vol. i. 140. f ' Oru. Biog.' vol. iii. p. 429. 



