GAUNT 



199 



This bird is probably of the second year, and not arrived at maturity. 



The female now before us did not weigh two pounds ; the length 

 twenty inches to the end of the rump feathers ; bill nearly the same, 

 but lighter flesh-coloured ; irides rufous-brown ; the feathers about the 

 head scarcely elongated ; the upper part of the head, back of the neck, 

 and whole upper parts, dusky, dashed with ash-colour ; on the crown 

 of the head the feathers are a little lengthened; the lore is brown, 

 beneath which a stroke of small brown feathers reaches from the mouth 

 to the eye ; the cheeks are white, with a few black spots near the 

 sides of the throat ; the under parts are wholly of a line satin white, 

 from chin to vent ; the shoulders, and smallest coverts of the wings, 

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

 tipped with white ; the rest are white, but a few of them have a dusky 

 streak down the shaft ; the legs are dusky without, inside pale flesh- 

 colour ; inner edge yellow ; feet dusky beneath, pale flesh-colour above ; 

 edges of the fins yellow ; nails bluish. 



These and other varieties frequently occur ; and it is probable that 

 even in maturity two are scarcely alike in plumage, and that the full 

 feathers of the head are not perfected till the third year. It must 

 also be observed, that this, as well as many other birds, vary in the 

 colour of those parts destitute of feathers, such as the bill, lore, and 

 legs ; these change with the season, and are brightest in the spring. 



There can be no doubt that the tippet grebe is the female or young 

 of this species. Dr. Latham seems to have been inclined to this opi- 

 nion in his Synopsis ; and in his Index Ornithologicus, has judiciously 

 brought them together. 



That author informs us that a large flock of the Gaunts appeared on 

 the shores of the river Thames, many of which came under his in- 

 spection : amongst them he found the greatest variety about the head, 

 from being perfectly without a crest, to the most complete one, with 

 all the intermediate stages. 



This bird is indigenous to England ; it breeds in the meres of Shrop- 

 shire and Cheshire, and in the fens of Lincolnshire. The nest is 

 large, composed of a variety of aquatic plants ; it is not attached to 

 any thing, but floats amongst the reeds and flags, penetrated by the 

 water. The female lays four white eggs, about the size of that of a 

 pigeon. 



Their principal food is fish, in pursuit of which they dive admirably. 

 On the least appearance of danger they plunge under water, depending 

 very little on their wings for safety. They are very rarely seen on 

 land, and at this season seldom fly farther than from one side of the pool 



