BIRDS OF THE DISTRICT OF STAINES. 389 



in the year 1881. In 1889 another example was shot by Mr. E. 

 Hawes in a flooded field at Egham. It is remarkable that two 

 specimens should have been obtained so far inland within the 

 space of nine years, the more so as the reservoir was then un- 

 built. 



Gkbat Crested Grebe (Podicipes cristatus). — As many as a 

 dozen nests are to be found on Virginia Water lake every year, 

 and one or two more are built on the small Obelisk Pond near at 

 hand. On the reservoir the bird is unusually plentiful, and it is 

 only for about three months (June, July, and August) of the year 

 that it is entirely absent from these waters. I have counted as 

 many as eighty birds in sight at the same time, and that I fancy 

 must be going on for an English record. In spring the male 

 utters a loud trumpeting cry, and when paired the birds often 

 swim up opposite to each other, and remain motionless for some 

 time with their beaks almost touching, as though they were 

 whispering some deep secret to one another. The nest is usually 

 a very substantial structure. The eggs are much pointed at both 

 ends, and usually number three or four, though a clutch of five 

 is not uncommon. When the birds are absent the eggs are 

 covered over with weed. The female alone appears to sit, the 

 male swimming about not far from the nest. 



Little Grebe (P.fliwiatilis). — Not particularly common on 

 our part of the river. More are to be found on various quiet 

 ponds, and these pond-birds breed at a considerably earlier date 

 than those on the main stream. Three broods are reared, and I 

 once found a clutch of five eggs, though, as a rule, I do not think 

 more than four are laid. 



