260 



HORNED GREBE. 



wing like the neck ; the rump is white ; the tail consists of ten black 

 feathers, crossed with a large semilunar bar of white ; the exterior 

 feather white on the outer margin, except at the tip ; legs short and 

 black. In some the breast is described to be white ; in young birds this 

 part is marked with narrow dusky lines. The female resembles the 

 male. 



This bird is only occasionally met with in this country ; every autumn 

 perhaps produces a few ; and instances have not been wanting to prove 

 they have sometimes bred with us. In the Supplement to the General 

 Synopsis, an account is given of a young one being shot in May. A 

 pair is also mentioned to have begun a nest in Hampshire, but being 

 disturbed, forsook it and went elsewhere. The nest is said to be made 

 of bents, and lined with soft materials ; the eggs, four in number, of 

 bluish white, marked with pale brown spots. It builds in the hollow 

 of a tree, and the nest has been remarked to be extremely fetid ; pro- 

 bably occasioned by the faeces of the young, and not by the filthy food 

 by which it has been supposed they feed their young. 



These birds have been seen in most parts of Great Britain, from 

 Scotland to the most southern parts, as we find on record ; and we 

 have known it killed in South Wales and in Devonshire. With us they 

 seem to prefer barren situations. Their food is insects and worms. It 

 is found plentiful in the deserts of Russia and Tartary : they are seen 

 in small flocks at Gibraltar, in the month of March, on their passage 

 northward, supposed to come from Africa. Sonnini saw them on the 

 banks of the Nile ; and Bechstein informs us that in Germany they fre- 

 quent the meadows all the summer. In the month of August they 

 form themselves into families in the plains, and early in September 

 they leave that country, returning again in the month of April. 



HORNED DOUKER.— A name for the Horned Grebe. 



HORNED GOOSE.— A name for the Brent Goose. 



HORNED GREBE (Podiceps cornutus, Latham.) 



* Podiceps cornutus, Lath. Ind. 2. 782. sp. 5. — Colymbus, sine Podiceps minor, 

 Ran, Syn. p. 190. 14. — Colymbus cornutus, Gmel. 1. 591. sp. 19. — Colymbus 



cornutus minor, Briss. 6. p. 50. 5. — Le Petit Grebe cornu, Buff. 8. 237 



Horned Grebe or Dobchick, Edw. Glean. Tab. 145. bad fig.— Lath. Syn. 5.288. 



6. var. A. — Temm. 2. 721.— Flem. Br. Anim. p. 131. 



YOUNG. 



Podiceps obscurus, Lath. Ind. 2. 782. sp. 4. — Colymbus minor, Briss. 2. 56. No. 



7. — Dusky Grebe, Lath. Syn. 5. 285. — Mont. Diet Colymbus obscurus, Gmel. 



Syst. 1. p. 592 — Colymbus caspicus, Gmel. Syst. 4. p. 137 lb. 1. p, 593 



Le petit Grebe, Buff. Ois. 8. p. 232.— Black and white Dobchick, Edw. t. 96. 



This bird is about thirteen inches and a half in length to the end of 



the rump-feathers; breadth twenty-two inches; the bill is near an inch 



long, dusky, lighter at the base of the under mandible, and inclining 



