The Eared Grebe. '99 



Palestine Canon Tristram found it abundant on the lakes of Galilee, and remain- 

 ing in hundreds on the Lake of Gennesaret long after it had assumed the nuptial 

 dress ; but it retired in May to Hulch. At Heligoland the Eared Grebe has only 

 occurred once — in winter dress. In America our bird is represented by a closely 

 allied form (P. nigricollis califomicus) with less white on the wing. 



Pennant, who knew the Great Crested Grebe well in the breeding season, 

 says positively that the Bared Grebe bred in his day in Lincolnshire. His words 

 are "these birds inhabit the fens near Spalding, where they breed. I have seen 

 both the male and female, but could not observe any external difference. They 

 make their nest not unlike that of the Crested Grebe, and lay four or five small 

 white eggs" (" British Zoology," 1776, Vol. II, p. 500). His figure and description 

 on those of an Eared Grebe in summer dress. It is of course possible that Pennant 

 attributed a Dabchick's nest to this bird, but he knew the latter species well. 



The late Henry Stevenson was of opinion that the Eared Grebe would have 

 occasionally remained to breed on the Norfolk Broads if undisturbed, and this 

 seems probable, several of the females which were killed in that county having 

 been found to contain eggs in various stages of development, up to the size of 

 a small marble. Some of the older writers on the avifauna of Norfolk thought 

 that this bird sometimes bred there, and the late E. T. Booth ("Rough Notes") 

 stated that on one occasion a full-plumaged adult and a couple of downy 

 mites were brought to him by a marshman. In Oxfordshire an example 

 in full breeding dress was killed on the Isis in the month of June, 1847. 



In summer the Eared Grebe inhabits lakes and inland fresh waters. In 

 its nesting habits it does not differ materially from its congeners. The 

 full complement of eggs is usually four, but sometimes five. A dozen nests 

 of the American form found in a bed of reeds, contained, however, no more than 

 three each, though some were considerably incubated. " They cannot be distin- 

 guished from the eggs of the Sclavonian Grebe, but they are always larger 

 than eggs of the Little Grebe, and smaller than those of the Red-necked 

 Grebe" (Seebohm). The food of this species when on fresh water consists 

 chiefly of beetles and other water insects. Small fish and crustaceans are also 

 eaten, and the bird's stomach usually contains some aquatic vegetable substances 

 and some of its own feathers. Seebohm says that the call-note of this species is 

 described by Naumann as a high, soft, but a far-sounding Seed, which in the pairing 

 season is rapidly repeated and becomes a trill, bidder, vidder, vidder, &c. 



The question whether Grebes habitually use their wings in diving or not seems 

 hardly settled. Mr. W. Raine says that they do (" Birds Nesting in North-West 

 Canada"). Mr. B. Hook says that a Little Grebe he watched did not (Seebohm's 



