THE GREAT-CRESTED GREBE. 
181 
of this kind are kept in an aviary and watched, this matter must 
remain unknown.” Mr. Yarrell remarks that “ there is cause to 
suspect these birds [grebes] reproduce at will from the stomach 
the more indigestible parts of their last meal, as hawks, owls, 
shrikes, and some other birds are known to do.” 
The stomachs of great-crested grebes which came under my 
examination contained as follows : — April 1, 1835 ; — that of an 
adult bird from a lake in the county Cavan was, apparently, quite 
filled with feathers, but on looking carefully among them, I de- 
tected the bones, scales, &c., of a small fish and the remains of 
some aquatic insects : the feathers did not consist wholly of those 
of the breast and under parts, but some partially black and brown, 
such as compose the crest, appeared : it is therefore evident that 
they do not always restrict themselves, as has been stated, to the 
feathers of the under surface of their bodies. March 28 and 
April 27, 1838; — adult birds killed at Loughgall, had their sto- 
machs filled with their own feathers. December 10 and 27, 1811 ; 
— an old male obtained at Lough Neagh at the former date, and 
an immature bird shot on or near it (sent from Castledawson to the 
Belfast Museum) were apparently filled with feathers ; but among 
them, in one specimen, were some small Crustacea ( Gammarus 
aquaticus). March 2, 1817 ; — of two male birds (one adult and 
the other in the next stage to being so) from the neighbourhood 
of Portumna, one was filled with feathers and the other nearly so, 
but in it were the remains of fishes ; both contained black and 
brown, as well as white feathers. One, procured on the 15th of 
April, 1819, had, in addition to the usual feathers, many bones 
of fishes, fragments of coleopterous insects, and a few portions of 
the stems of vegetables. March 30, 1850 ; — -an old bird killed 
on Lough Neagh contained bones of fishes among a large mass 
of feathers ; the entire contents, as usual, having a greenish tinge, 
owing, we may presume, to a secretion from the stomach. An 
adult, obtained on the 13th of May, the same year, on that lake, 
had the stomach densely packed with feathers, among which were 
small bones and f ear-bones 9 of fishes, and the remains of coleop- 
terous insects. 
