RED-NECKED GRERE. 
POniCEPS IWBRICOLLTS. 
Tiieke is, I believe, no recorded instance of this Grebe having been met with breeding within the 
limits of the British Islands, and I am unable to give any information that would assist m proving 
they ever remained as residents on the freshwater broads or the remote lochs of our northern or eastern 
counties during the summer months. Tliat the juveniles make a start at an early date from the distant 
haunts in which they have been reared I have, however, good evidence, a young bird in the immature 
plumage of the first autumn having been obtained on Breydon Water, near Yarmouth, on the 11th o 
August, 1873. The adults also quit their northern summer-quarters at much the same time. On t e 
3rd'’ of August 1872, I obtained a good view of a handsome old bird in full plumage about a mile off 
Brighton ; it had escaped observation owing to the swell, and did not rise from the water till the lugger, 
in which we were proceeding to sea on a conger-fishing expedition, was within the distance of ten yards; 
having, however, unfortunately omitted to charge my gun, the chance of a shot was lost. After having 
been marked down about a quarter of a mile to windward, we failed to catch a glimpse of it again, the 
breeze having freshened and heavy seas occasionally rolling in and breaking. 
Though luck had turned against us while in pursuit of the Grebe, we met with very great success 
when the marks * over the wu-eck, about wdiich the big eels resorted, w'ere reached. It had been reported 
a few days previously by one of the Brighton boatmen that a conger weighing seventy or eighty pounds had 
broken away from his line at this spot, after being struck l>y the gaff, which had left a deep and 
conspicuous * wound in its neck. The whiting proved exceedingly numerous and kept us constantly 
at work, while they swam round and round in shoals about the blocks of stone that had been the cargo 
of the vessel and now afforded shelter for the congers to repose in. For an hour or so our baits were 
only taken by congers of twenty-five or thirty pounds, but at last a line was seized by one that strongly 
resisted all efforts to bring him to the surface. At length after a delay of a quarter of an hour, during 
which time he probably held on by one of the blocks of stone or pieces of old timber, he came in view, 
and the cut below the gills was plainly seen as he rolled round. After darting down again two or three 
times with irresistible force, he floated quietly up, apparently beginning to feel the effects of his struggle 
to escape, and was safely lifted into the boat by three of our crew armed with gaffs and well acquainted 
with such work. Although six feet one and a half inches in length, his weight was ten or twelve 
pounds less than ‘what we had been led to expect; the fine condition, however, in which he proved 
to be accounted for his strength and the protracted resistance offered. Our total score that day amounted 
* As it may not be generally known to those unacquainted with sea-fishing, it is well to state that the “marks” referred to are usually 
conspicuous objcJts on the shore, such as church-steeples, lofty chimneys, or high buildings, as weU as hills and even tall trees that can be brought 
inline on both quarters, so as to assist the fishermen in finding the whereabouts of the rocks, wrecks, or sand-hanks that prove so attractive to the 
finny tribe. 
