655 



common in Greece in winter, and winters also in the Cyclades ; and Lord Lilford informs me 



that he found it very numerous on the lakes and lagoons of Epirus, and believes that a few may 



breed at the head of the Lake of Butrinto. 



It doubtless occurs in Asia Minor ; but I have no data respecting its range there. Canon 



Tristram, however, met with it in great numbers in Palestine, and says that it breeds in the 



marshes of Merom. 



In North-east Africa' it is not very common. Von Heuglin says it is found sparingly in 



winter in the lagoons of Lower Egypt, on the bitter lakes, and near Suez. Early in May he 



shot a pair in full summer plumage near Tamieh, in the Fayoom ; and it breeds, he adds, near 



Ben-Ghazi. Mr. Blanford met with it on Lake Ashangi, in Abyssinia, where, he states, it was 



not very common. 



In North-western Africa, however, this Grebe is much more numerous. It breeds commonly 



in Algeria. Lord Lilford met with it in Tunis ; and it probably occurs in Tangier, though it is 



not included in M. Favier's list. 



It is even found, though in most places only as a rare straggler, in South Africa. Mr. C. J. 

 Andersson met with it at Walwich Bay ; and one was sent (Ibis, 1868, p. 263) by Mr. Ayres from 



the Transvaal. Mr. Layard, however, has found it breeding commonly in South Africa. This 

 gentleman writes (B. of S. Afr. p. 374) as follows : — " The Eared Grebe was unknown to me as 

 an inhabitant of South Africa until the year 1859, when, having an opportunity of visiting Vogel 

 Vley, in the Wellington district, I found it breeding in considerable numbers amid the rushes 

 that border portions of that lake. Each pair seemed to keep guard over its special province, and 

 never to stray to any distance from the haunt. The nest was constructed of sedge, and was a 

 large compact structure ; the eggs, four or five in number, are chalky white." According to 

 Mr. Gurney (Ibis, 1808, p. 263) specimens from South Africa differ from the ordinary European 

 bird in being rather smaller in size, and in having a shorter bill and paler ear-tufts. 



In Asia the Eared Grebe is found right across the continent to Japan. According to 

 Dr. Severtzoff it is rare on passage in Turkestan ; and Mr. A. O. Hume, who obtained it on 

 the Baluchistan coast, writes (Stray Feathers, i. p. 266) : — ■" This species is not uncommon 

 about the mouths of the Indus, and along the Sindh and Mekran coasts as far, at any rate, as 

 Gwader. I saw specimens just outside the Kurrachee harbour, beyond the Oyster-rocks, but 

 failed to procure any there. They were most common at Soomeeanee Bay, just at the boundaries 

 of Khelat and Sindh ; and it was there that I procured most of my specimens. Like all Grebes 

 these birds depend for safety on their extraordinary diving powers, and after one or two shots 

 have been fired they never dream of flying when any boat is at all near them. On the other 

 hand, before they have been disturbed, I noticed them flying about, more than I have ever seen 

 any other Grebe do. On two or three occasions I noticed them spontaneously taking flights of 

 fully a quarter of a mile, three or four together flying low, and very rapidly ; and at Gwader I 

 noticed a single bird flying pretty high across the strip of sand that divides the eastern and the 

 western bays, and on which the town is built. 



" None of my specimens were in full breeding-plumage ; the most advanced, a male, though 

 furnished with the long silky orange-red tuft behind the eye, still exhibited a white speckling on 

 the chin and throat, and only bore the faintest trace of the rufous striation which is said to 



