22 GREBE. 



throat ; the under parts fine satiny white ; shoulders and lesser wing 

 coverts white; eleven first quill feathers dusky, the four last of them 

 tipped with white, the rest white ; legs dusky without, inside pale 

 flesh-colour, edges yellowish ; nails bluish. 



The above are, we believe, the principal differences arising from 

 sex or age, but to describe every Variety that actually occurs, would 

 be difficult, for they vary exceedingly. We have had this matter 

 more fully ascertained, from the circumstance of a large flock of 

 them, which appeared, some years since, on various parts of the shores 

 of the Thames, from Gravesend to Greenwich, in the winter season, 

 many of which came under my inspection ; and among them were 

 found the greatest Variety about the head, from being perfectly 

 without a crest, to the most complete one, with all intermediate 

 stages. 



These birds are sufficiently common in some parts of England, 

 breeding in the Meres of Shropshire, and Cheshire, and in the East 

 Fen of Lincolnshire, where they are called Gaunts; and in some 

 parts are known by the name of Cargoose. The female lays four 

 white eggs, like those of the Pigeon ; and makes a nest of a large 

 size, formed of bogbean, stalks of water lily, pond weed, and water 

 violet, floating independent among the reeds and flags. It is pene- 

 trated by the water, and the bird sits on, and hatches the eggs in 

 that condition. The food chiefly consists of small fish, obtained by 

 diving, and sometimes vegetables;* feeds the young with small eels, 

 and the old bird will sometimes carry them, when tired, on its back; 

 rarely seen on land ; is a quick diver, difficult to be shot, darting 

 down on the least appearance of danger, and seldom flies farther 

 than the end of the lake which it frequents, f 



These birds are well known on various parts of the Continent 

 of Europe ; common in the winter time on the Lake of Geneva, 



* Dr. Heysham mentions one of the Tippet Grebe, having been shot near Carlisle, 

 which had half-digested vegetables, and a great number of feathers, in its stomach, 

 f Br. Zool. 



