NOTES AND QUERIES. 315 



2 lb. 8J oz. ; 29^ in. from tip of beak to end of tail ; 13^ in. from 

 carpal joint of wing to longest primary. — Stanley Lewis (Wells, 



Somerset). 



Great Crested Grebe (Podicipes cristatus) breeding in Essex. — 

 When Mr. Miller Christy published his interesting ' Birds of Essex ' 

 in 1890, he was only able to give one record of the nesting of this fine 

 bird in the county, and it may be worth recording that a nest was 

 found, and unfortunately robbed of its three eggs, early in June this 

 year. The lamentable modern craze for "British-taken" eggs, which 

 was as little known thirty or forty years ago as appendicitis or influenza, 

 renders it desirable to give no more definite particulars than that the 

 locality is not a great distance from the Thames. — Julian G. Tuck 

 (Tostock Bectory, Bury St. Edmunds). 



Black-necked Grebe (Podicipes nigricollis) breeding in Great 

 Britain. — In ' The Zoologist' of 1904 (p. 417), I recorded the fact that 

 several pairs of Black-necked or Eared Grebes reared their young in 

 Britain during the summer of 1904. From what passed at the time 

 my paper was published, I think it will be interesting to some orni- 

 thologists to know the name of one at least of the several observers 

 who have actually seen the birds. I have therefore great pleasure in 

 saying that I have been able to pay a secret visit (with the permission 

 of the discoverers) to the lake, and that I then and there saw (and 

 watched for some time through strong glasses) four or five adult Eared 

 Grebes in full breeding plumage. They had not then, I think, hatched 

 their young, being possibly, like the Crested Grebe, late breeders on 

 some waters, or in some seasons ; and, judging from my knowledge of 

 the habits of that species, I formed the opinion that the mates of some 

 at least of the birds I saw were sitting on their nests. The Eared 

 Grebe in breeding dress is a most beautiful bird. Its back shines in 

 the sun with metallic colours, coppery in some lights. The straw- 

 coloured ear-tufts are conspicuous, and stand straight out towards the 

 back of the head ; the forehead looks very high. The note sounds like 

 " blidder," many times rapidly repeated, and falling a little in tone at 

 the end of the run of "blidders." The note is often better toned and 

 more drawn out than that of the Little Grebe, whose corresponding cry 

 may be rendered " klitter." But much further details, given by the 

 discoverers of this addition to our list of breeding birds, will be found 

 in my paper quoted above. — 0. V. Aplin. 



Unusual Clutches of Eggs. — On May 20th last I found a nest of 

 the Ring-Ouzel at the Cedars, Wells, containing six eggs— a rarity, I 



