GREAT CRESTED GREBE. 
3 
Ilaving occasionally fallen in with these birds in early spring exhibiting a curious mottled state of 
plumage about the head and neck, the colour of the iris also being of various tints, from lemon-yellow to 
orange, I arn inclined to believe that the young do not assume the full crest till after the age of one year. 
As none hut birds in full summer plumage are seen about their summer-haunts till the downy youngsters make 
their appearance, it is probable that, after the fashion of many of the sea-fowl, the immature birds are not 
allowed to associate with the adults, and necessarily seek other quarters. On the 11th of March, 1871, a small 
party of half a dozen were observed on Ileigham Sounds : the birds proving shy, it was impossible to obtain a 
satisfactory view through the glasses; and being anxious to ascertain their state of plumage, I fired the big gun 
and secured four. Though the specimens varied considerably it was improbable that any would have assumed 
the full adult dress that season. On one occasion so early as the 18tli of January, and often in Eebruary, I 
met with the Great Crested Grebe in full summer plumage. Doubtless the frills increase in size and richness 
of colouring with the age of the birds ; I remarked that the elongated feathers of the ears as well as the 
crest of a pair shot in the east of Norfolk on the 25th of May, 1870, were little more than half the length of 
those on an old male obtained near the same spot on the 30th of May, 1873. I find only one entry in my 
journals referring to the date at which the adults commence to throw off the crest and assume the winter 
plumage : — “ September 25th, 1879. The Loons had now lost the greater part of the frill and could hardly be 
distinguished from the young at the distance of eighty or one hundred yards.” 
By closely watching a nest discovered on Ileigham Sounds in May 1870, I ascertained that the eggs were 
laid on alternate days ; subsequent observations also tended to prove that this is the rule. When fresh laid, 
the egg is a pale bluish white, though it speedily assumes a dirty yellow tint, stained by the decaying water- 
plants with which the bird artfully conceals its treasures when leaving the nest. 
As previously stated, it was seldom during the winter months that I observed these birds frequenting 
their summer-haunts ; one or two, however, occasionally return, and having alighted on the ice, utterly 
bewildered by the change, flutter and slide along the surface from which the snow has drifted, and experience 
much difiiculty in rising again on wing. The Plate represents a scene of this description witnessed on 
nickling Broad in December 1871 ; the specimens from which the figures are taken were obtained at sea, off 
Shoreham, while in pursuit of small fi’y in the shallow water over the sand-banks on the 9th of December, 
1879. The following were the colours of the soft parts : — Iris bright cerise, with a white ring round pupil. 
Upper mandible pale flesh, with a dai’k line along the ridge. Legs dark greyish green on the outer, yellow on 
the irmer side. Toes yellow with a green tinge, showing clouded blotches and a dark scrawl down each toe. 
Nail on each toe a pale lead tint. 
