The Red-Necked Grebe. 191 



The adult male in summer has the bill black, base of the sides of the upper 

 and base of the under mandibles yellow. Iris pearly white. Bare skin between 

 bill and eye "reddish-black" (Seebohm). Forehead, crown (taking in two-thirds 

 of the eye, but not passing below it), occiput, nape, and hind neck nearly black, 

 glossed with green bronze; the feathers of the back of the crown elongated, and 

 forming a drooping crest, only slightly longer at the sides than in the middle of 

 the hinder margin. All the feathers of the upper part of the hind neck, from 

 the base of the occiput downwards, are chestnut-red at the base. Back and upper 

 parts generally, deep rich brown, rather glossy, the feathers on the mantle usually 

 showing pale edges. Primaries dark brown, shafts blackish. First two outer 

 secondaries brown, the next marked with white, the next two half white, the next 

 chiefly white, but all with dark shafts. Axillaries and wing-lining white. Chin, 

 face, sides of the head and throat, french-grey (or pale slate-grey), the feathers 

 about the ear-coverts somewhat elongated. From the base of the bill a narrow 

 line of small dark feathers to the eye. A white line passes from this, below the 

 eye, and between the dark cap and the grey of the face, to the nape, becoming 

 broader on its lower part. The rest of the grey is obscurely margined with white. 

 Front and sides of the neck rich chestnut-red. Breast a paler brownish chestnut 

 mixed with a little white. Belly white. Sides of body and flanks marked with 

 dusky and a little chestnut. Lowest part of body dusky. " Legs and feet dull 

 green, darkest at the joints" (Seebohm). Length i6'5 inches; wing 6 - 5 inches. 

 The female is very similar, but rather smaller. 



The iris of this species is usually white in the adult and straw-coloured in 

 the young bird. But by some authors the iris has been described as red, and 

 brownish-red. The accurate Montagu describes the iris of a bird killed in winter 

 as hazel. 



In winter the bill is paler and yellowish, culmen brownish horn. Top and 

 sides of the head, to a little below the eye, lores, nape, neck all round 

 (but this is much paler in front), back, wings, and upper parts generally, brown, 

 with grey edges to the feathers of the shoulder, mantle, and scapulars. Chin, 

 lower face and throat (incroaching on the nape), breast and belly white. Sides of the 

 breast thickly mottled with brown and with darker feather- shafts ; sides of the 

 body and flanks mottled with the same. There is no hood, or drooping crest. 

 Birds in this dress are easily distinguished from Crested Grebes in the same stage 

 of plumage, by their dark lores and the absence of the whitish line over the eye. 

 Tarsi and toes dusky greenish-yellow on the inside and upper side, dusky on the 

 joints and edges of the lobes, outside and underside dusky. 



A young bird, in the University Museum at Christiania, had the face and 



