722 SLAVONIAN OR HORNED GREBE. 
in Alaska and throughout the Fur countries in summer, visiting the 
northern portions of the United States in winter, and occasionally 
wandering to the Bermudas. Young birds have been met with in 
the southern part of Greenland ; and an adult female was obtained 
by the Austro-Hungarian Expedition on June 23rd on the Island of 
Jan Mayen, the most northern occurrence on record. 
The nest, composed of reeds and other aquatic plants, is usually 
rather large and floats on the sutface of the water, but Dr. Kriiper 
says that he has found it in a tussock of grass, and once on a stone. 
The eggs 2-4, or sometimes 5 in number, are of a bluish-white 
colour when first laid, though they soon become stained : measure- 
ments 1°8 by 1°25 in. The female dives with the young under 
her wings, when Proctor observed that the position of the nestlings 
was with their heads towards the tail of the parent bird, their bills 
resting upon her back. Messrs. Slater and Carter repeatedly noticed 
the adults swimming under water after leaving the nest ; their legs, 
which may almost be called terminal instead of lateral members, 
giving them somewhat the appearance of large frogs. The food of 
this species is similar to that of its congeners. 
Full breeding-plumage is not assumed till April. The adult male 
(figured on the left) has then a tuft of elongated pale chestnut 
feathers on each side of the head ; crown, forehead, chin and tippet 
black ; upper parts dark brown ; secondaries chiefly white, except 
the three outer ones, which are mainly dusky, like the primaries; 
neck, breast and flanks warm chestnut ; belly white; bill straight, 
nearly black, except the tip which is whitish ; irides red; legs and toes 
dark greenish-brown outside, yellower on the inner surface. Length 
13'5 in.; wing 5°5 in. The female is rather smaller and has less 
developed head-ornaments, but otherwise the sexes are alike ex- 
ternally. After the autumn moult the irides are paler, the crest and 
tuft are absent, and the under-parts are chiefly white, the throat and 
flanks being streaked with dusky grey. Young birds bear a general 
resemblance to the adults in winter-plumage, but the cheeks are of a 
duller white, while the flanks and belly are browner. 
It is unfortunate that the specific name awritus, which Linnzeus 
undoubtedly used for the Slavonian Grebe, should have been diverted 
by Latham and other authors to the next species ; great confusion 
being thereby caused. 
