Where the Cresicd Grebe Breeds. 
It is quite exciting to watch tliis bird dive and to con- 
jecture wiieie he wih rife, and he stays so long under that one 
fears something has happened, but no, up pops his head some 
yards away, he boUs his catch, then down he goes again, and at 
tlie next rise is a mere speck in the distance. 
The young Grebe are slaty-grey in colour, the white 
breasts alone making it possible to see them on the other side 
of the lake, swimming and diving with the parent birds where 
they look like splashes of white on the water. 
They nest among the water-lily leaves or in the low 
bushes, and at the first sign of frost take wing, flying hii^h like 
wild ducks, and go perhaps to some river where there is no fear 
of ice-bound waters, or may be to a more congenial clime, but 
tliey always return with the spring. 
There is a wealth of wild life here ; Moorhens swim about 
or scuttle across the water like living hydroplanes, the trumpet- 
like call of the Coot is heard on all sides. Ducks rise and circle 
round, then settle on the water again; a pair of lordly .Swans 
are proudly marshalling a family of six young cygnets and 
presently the swarms of young fish will make tlie lake a happy 
hunting ground for the beautiful Kingfisher — and when winter 
storms come, hundreds of wild fowl of all kinds will flock to this 
haven of refuge. 
In 1918 our member Mrs. Ransom bred a new coloured 
Budgerigar, which she calls " Jade;" the breast is light green, 
the markings are mauve, the face yellow, and the tail light blue 
T.ast year, our member Mrs. Burgess bred some of the sam^ 
colour; at present some are rather too yellow, but when the 
l,t,Y,pe gets fixed they will be a very handsome variety. 
Another new variety is the I.ettuce-green — very like the 
above, but the green is more vivid, and the markings and 
Various Coloured Budgerigars. 
By John W. Marsden, F.Z.S. 
