LITTLE GREBE 
275 
TACHYBAPTES FLUVIATILIS (Tunstall). 
LITTLE GREBE. 
This bird was first noticed as a Manx resident by- 
Mr. J. C. Crellin, who observed it breeding on the Lough 
at Bishop's Court (Z. L. M., pt. i. p. 377 ; ii. pp. 71, 203). 
I have since found it nesting in the Curragh at Ballaugh, 
and on a pond in the same parish. Mr. Adams tells me 
that he has often seen it on a small artificial piece of 
water near Douglas, but it is not known whether it breeds 
there, and Mr. Leach has also observed it on the mill-dam 
at Tromode. I have seen a nest in a singularly dry situa- 
tion, on a clump of rushes at the edge of a pond, but quite 
away from the water ; but possibly the pool had somewhat 
shrunk after it was built. Other nests, however, were 
floating in knee-deep water full of bog bean and other 
vegetation. One examined on 7th June 1900 was formed 
chiefly of moss, with a substructure of dead rushes. Eggs 
are usually laid in April, but I have seen a set nearly 
fresh on 24th May; and on 22nd May 1904 Mr. F. S. Graves 
found a nest with three fresh eggs, while the young of the 
first brood were close to the nest and nearly full grown. In 
winter the species occurs more widely, and is found on salt 
water as well as fresh. I have one which was killed on 
the sea at Derby haven, and Captain Wales of Laxey ob- 
tained a specimen from a tide-pool in the harbour of that 
place, which attempted to escape only by diving. 
Mr. Crellin tells me that some years ago a Little Grebe 
was caught at Bishop's Court on the highroad, a strange 
place to find this species. 
Mr. Graves adds the following note on the species : — 
'A Little Grebe which I caught last year (1902) did not 
show the slightest alarm when handled, nor attempt to fly 
