300 The great crested grebe 



Another writer in the same magazine ^ says that he saw a large 

 number in Norway during the breeding season, but not one without 

 the dark red throat. 



This species, like the rest of the genus, obtains its food by diving ; 

 when pursued it rarely tries to escape by taking wing, though it 

 has the power of flying with great rapidity. During the breeding 

 season especially, it often flies about over the water with its long 

 neck outstretched, and uttering a wailing scream. 



I am informed by a friend, that while fishing in a boat in calm 

 water off the coast of North Devon, he has many times seen Divers 

 pass through the water, at a considerable depth below, propelling 

 themselves by a free and active use of their wings. 



From October to May only these Divers frequent our coast. 

 Towards the end of spring they withdraw northwards and build 

 their nests, of coarse grass and other herbs, close to the edge of a 

 fresh-water loch. They lay two eggs, and the male is said to take 

 his turn in the office of incubation. Many stay to breed in the 

 Orkneys and Outer Hebrides, and in Ireland. 



PODICIPEDID.^ 

 THE GREAT CRESTED GREBE 



PODICIPES CRISTATUS 



Bill longer than the head, reddish, the tip white ; distance from the nostril 

 to the tip seventeen or eighteen lines ; cheeks white ; crest and ruff 

 dark brown and chestnut ; upper plumage dark brown ; secondaries 

 white ; breast and under parts silky white ; bill brownish red ; irides 

 red ; feet dull green. Female — crest and rufi less conspicuous, colours 

 generally less bright. Young birds have neither crest nor rufi. Length 

 twenty-one inches. Eggs white. 



The Great Crested Grebe is thus described by Sir Thomas Browne, 

 .under the name of Loon : ' A handsome and specious fowl, cris- 

 tated, and with divided fin-feet placed very backward. They 

 come about April, and breed in the broad waters ; so making their 

 nest in the water, that their eggs are seldom dry while they are set 

 on.' Fifty years ago the Loon continued to be so common on 

 the Broads of Norfolk that eighteen or twenty might be counted 

 together. It is more or less resident in England and Wales — in 

 the meres of the Midlands and the lakes of Breconshire, and has 

 lately bred! in the vicinity of the Clyde. 



The movements of this bird in the water are described as most 

 graceful ; in swimming it vies with the Swan, and it is a skilful 

 diver. As seen perched up in a museum its form is ungainly, but 

 ' Zoologist, vol. Ix. p. 3084. 



