EARED GRERE 
PODICEPS NIGRICOL LIS. 
Though possibly not an unfrequent visitor during the brceding-seaso)i, in days gone by, to seveial of the 
broads in the eastern counties, tins species has never come under my observation alive in summer. 
That they have nested and hatched their young in this country there is, however, not the slightest doubt, 
a full-plumaged adult and a couple of downy mites having l)eeu brought, as a great prize, by a marshman 
whom I had requested merely to look out for and ascertain the usual haunts of a pair that wex’e reported 
to frequent a certain corner on a large sheet of water. The manner in which these specimens had been 
procured rendered them useless for my collection; and under the impression that others would be met 
with on some future occasion, I took no notes of the colouring or the markings on the soft parts of the 
juveniles: since that date, however, now nearly twenty years ago, I have only met with these Grebes 
after the unpretending dress put on at the close of autumn had been assumed. 
In winter this species is occasionally to be seen off the Sussex coast as well as on the pools and rivers in 
the salt marshes. Some years back while staying at an inn in Pevensey Level, so as to be on the spot 
for Snipe-shooting, I learned that a small diving-fowl had been caught by a dog ; and on visiting the 
back kitchen, where the captive was disporting itself in a large tub of water covered with a net, I 
found what appeared to be a winter-plumaged Sclavonian Grebe *. In oi’der to make observations on its 
powers of locomotion on dry land, the bird was fished out and set at liberty on the brick floor : while 
shuffling round with the wings spread I succeeded in taking two or three rough sketches; these drawings 
now plainly indicate the species, viz. the Eared Grebe. The white bar on the wing of the Sclavonian Grebe 
is merely a patch of about an inch and a half in length, while in the present species it extends over two 
joints : this very conspicuous mark renders it possible to distinguish the birds, even in winter plumage, 
while on wing. On the 10th of December, 1879 (a light breeze from the north, a sharp frost setting in 
after midday), I was shooting off the coast between Shoreham and Worthing, and at half-ebb came in 
amon" the old groins and breakwaters which stretch out to sea for a considerable distance. An attractive 
harbour for small fish, shrimps, prawns, and other marine insects is here afforded by the shelter of the 
decaying piles and planks that still hold together, and food being always abundant in fine weather, 
numbers of Grebes and Divers are drawn towards this happy hunting-ground. During the course of the 
afternoon I plainly identified every species of our British Grebes, obtaining specimens in full winter plumage 
of the Great Crested, Red-necked, and Eared, as well as passing and closely examining several Sclavonian in 
the shoal water near the sands. On landing and mounting to the top of the beach, to obtain a better view of 
the hay through the glasses, a couple of Little Grebes were observed busily fishing in a brackish pool beyond 
the shingle-banks. One or two other specimens of the Eared Grebe shot by local gunners along tbe Sussex 
coast have come under my observation during the past few years : these all exhibited the full winter plumage. 
* I had never previously met with this Grebe in winter, and was unacquainted with the characteristics that mark the species. 
