724 BLACK-NECKED OR EARED GREBE. 
Ireland two examples in full plumage have been obtained in June, 
and a few birds appear to have been met with during the colder 
months. 
The Black-necked Grebe is merely a wanderer to the southern 
portions of Scandinavia; but Benzon assured Mr. Dresser that 
it bred regularly near Thy, in the north-west of Jutland, and 
Mr. Hartert says that it nests freely in East Prussia. Southward 
it breeds in suitable localities throughout the greater part of Europe, 
becoming abundant in the countries bordering the Mediterranean and 
Black Seas; while it is even more plentiful in North Africa, whence 
it ranges southward to the Cape. In Asia it is widely distributed 
over the temperate regions, as far east as the Pacific and down to 
about 22° N. lat. in winter. In North America it is represented by 
the closely-allied F. cafjfornicus, which has hardly any white on the 
innermost primaries or the outer secondaries. Neither species is 
found in Greenland. 
Canon Tristram found this Grebe on Lake Halloula in Algeria, 
“‘in societies more densely crowded than any rookery”; the nests 
being “raised on artificial islets, frequently almost touching each 
other, and sometimes piled on stout foundations rising from more 
than a yard under water.” Benzon states that in Denmark the nests 
he saw were not floating amongst the reeds, but were on tussocks 
at the edge of the lake, though in places where the water was deep 
and clear; they were made chiefly of “moss,” and with this the 
female covers up her eggs on leaving them. ‘These, up to 5 in 
number, are yellowish-white when laid, but afterwards become 
brown, owing to stains: measurements 1°65 by 115 in. The note 
is described by Naumann as a soft deeb or—in the pairing season— 
a reiterated dzdder; the food consists of fish, crustaceans, coleopterous 
insects &c. The late Mr. Gatcombe told me that he had seen this 
and other Grebes dive when in deep water with a leap, as a Shag does. 
The adult male in breeding-plumage—assumed in March—has 
the head and neck black, with a triangular patch of long ‘hair-like 
feathers of a golden chestnut-colour on the ear-coverts ; upper parts 
dark brown; secondaries almost entirely white to their tips, while 
there is also a great deal of white on the four inner primaries ; 
breast and belly white, flanks dull chestnut ; bill black, upcurved in 
front of the angle. Length 12 in.; wing 5 in. The female is 
rather smaller. After the autumn moult the ear-tufts and black on 
the throat are lost, only a dusky band remaining on the latter; the 
plumage of the young resembles that of the adults in winter. 
