6 



is very shy and watchful, and is capable of remaining submerged for more than a minute at a 

 time. As it usually dives when threatened with danger, I was not a little surprised when on one 

 being fired at by a lad who was lying concealed among the rocks, it merely swam away from the 

 spot, not diving until it had proceeded about sixty yards. I also was concealed at the time, and 

 observed, by means of a telescope, that the bird did nothing more than start slightly and quicken 

 its pace as the shot fell around it. On escaping a shot by diving, if the water be deep, it swims 

 for a considerable distance beneath the surface, and on emerging either dives again or imme- 

 diately takes wing. In shallow water, however, when the weeds interfere with its progress, it 

 remains beneath for a very short time, and then rises on the wing. Those which are seen in 

 May (and they sometimes remain until the end of that month) are nearly always pairs ; and 

 then, instead of industriously diving among the shallow bays and inlets, they idle away their 

 time in deep water. I have seen them swimming about the middle of the voe at Balta Sound 

 for nearly a whole day without once showing any sign of searching for food." 



The nest of the Horned Grebe, like that of its allies, is a mere mass of aquatic herbage 

 floating on the water, and generally so low in the water that the eggs are always wet. When 

 the old bird leaves the nest, she always covers her eggs with some of the wet herbage of which 

 the nest is composed. 



Mr. Proctor, who met with this bird in Iceland, says that it " frequents the fresh waters, and 

 breeds amidst the reeds and other rank herbage. The nest is large, and floats on the surface of 

 the water, with which it rises and falls. It is composed of a mass of reeds and other aquatic 

 plants. The eggs vary in number from two to four, and when just laid are of a bluish white ; 

 but they soon become stained by the materials of which the nest is composed. The size of the 

 egg is one inch and three quarters long by one inch and a quarter in breadth. The young birds 

 when first hatched are covered with grey-coloured down. No sooner does the old bird perceive 

 danger from any intruder than she instantly dives, and emerges at thirty or forty yards' distance. 

 One day during my sojourn in Iceland, having observed one of these birds dive from its nest, I 

 placed myself with my gun at my shoulder, waiting its reappearance, as soon as it emerged I 

 fired and killed it, and was surprised to see two young ones (which, it seems, had been concealed 

 beneath the wings of the parent bird) drop upon the water. I afterwards shot several other birds 

 of this species, all of which dived with their young under their wings. The young were placed 

 with their heads towards the tail, and their bills resting on the back of the parent bird." 



I have several eggs of the Horned Grebe from Iceland, which resemble those of the Eared 

 Grebe, except that they are a trifle larger in size. 



The specimens figured are the adult male in summer plumage and the adult winter bird 

 above described. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens: — 



E Mus. H. E. Dresser, 

 a, rf ad. Greenland, summer (Moschler). b, 2 ad. Ural, June 21st (O. S.), 1863 (Sabanaeff). c, J ad. New 

 Hampshire, U. S., February 6th, 1861 (E. Cows) . d, J . Point Lepreaux, Bay of Fundy, December 

 {H.E.D.). 



E Mus. H. B. Tristram. 



a, d . Stromness, Orkneys, July 1852 (T. Benri). b, c. Iceland, 1862 (TV. Procter). 



