174 BRITISH BIRDS’ EGGS. 
Famity PODICIPITIDA. 
GREAT CRESTED GREBE. 
Popiceps cristatus, Linn. 
Pl. XXVIL., fig. 2. 
Geogr. distr.—Temperate portions of Continental Europe, Asia as 
far eastward as Japan, Africa southwards to the Cape, but rare in 
Egypt, Australia, and New Zealand; it is less common in Great 
Britain than formerly, but still breeds in Hertfordshire, Suffolk, 
Norfolk, Huntingdonshire, Warwick, Worcestershire, Shropshire, 
Lincolnshire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, and Wales, also rarely in Scotland 
and Treland. 
Food.—Aquatic plants, worms, insects, Mollusca, fish and ova, 
Amphibia. 
Nest.—A mass of aquatic herbage, reeds, grass, &., of a circular 
form, and about ten inches in depth, with slight central depression. 
Position of nest.—Floating deeply in the water, only three or four 
inches being visible in those which I have seen, anchored amongst 
growing reeds and flags. 
Number of eggs.—4; rarely 5. 
Time of nidification.—IV- VII. 
In the last week of May, 1885, when on Norfolk Broads 
with Mr. O. Janson, we came across several nests of this 
species. As we were too early for the second brood, only 
one nest was taken with two eges.* When removed from 
the water it was as much as a man could lift. All the 
nests which we saw were formed of masses of leaves of 
reeds and flags, mixed with feathery green weeds, and 
bound at the borders with fresh green reeds; from the 
middle of the central depression a number of long, thin, 
twisted grasses trailed over the upper surface, giving the 
whole nest a lively appearance,t whilst the eggs were con- 
cealed by pieces of the leaf of the water-lily. The birds in 
Norfolk are known as ‘‘ Loons.” 
In Africa this Grebe is said to breed in companies 
consisting of six to eight nests, whereas in England they 
appear to fight shy of one another. 
* In the first week of June of the present year we took the third of 
three nests (ten eggs in all); doubtless there were double this number 
on the same Broad. 
+ Later in the year the nests exhibit a miserably decayed appear- 
ance, but the birds do not seem to object to use them in this state. 
