io8 Wonders of the Bird World 



so large as that of her mate. This is quite an exceptional 

 occurrence among birds, as the male is usually so much 

 more brilliantly coloured than the female ; where any 

 difference exists in the colour of the sexes, and certainly 

 among Water-birds, wherever there is divergence in the 

 plumage of male and female, the beauty of the former is 

 very marked. This is especially the case with Ducks, where 

 the male is much more brilliantly coloured than the hen 

 bird. In Geese and Swans, however, as well as in Penguins, 

 Auks, Gulls, Petrels, and Divers, the sexes are almost 

 exactly alike, and few of these birds exhibit any particular 

 ornamentation, such as I have alluded to above in the case 

 of the Great Crested Grebes. Here both male and female 

 have the snowy white breast so much in demand among 

 ladies for jacket-trimming and for muffs, and in summer 

 they put on ornamental tippets in both sexes. This 

 species is becoming much more common in England of 

 late years, as protection has been afforded to it, and it is a 

 great ornament to our inland waters. Quite recently a 

 pair of these handsome birds have taken up their abode 

 on the lake in Wimbledon Park, and have successfully 

 reared their young. The latter have a pretty striped 

 plumage, and show also a bare patch of bright red on the 

 crown, which is not seen in the adult birds, so that in the 

 Great Crested Grebe we have an ornament in the }'oung 

 individuals which is not continued when the bird becomes 

 adult. The nest which this species makes is a flat one oi 

 rushes and water plants, and it is generally easy of dis- 

 covery, as it is built out in the lake on the edges of the 

 standing reeds, and the eggs can be seen from some 

 distance, as the nest is nearly level with the water. I have 

 found several such nests on the Norfolk Broads in places 

 where they are preserved, but in certain localities they are 

 found in colonies during the breeding season, and nest in 

 dense reed-beds. Grebes have a curious habit of covering . 



