THE EARED GREBE. 
189 
remain permanently in Sutherland.'* Nothing is said of its nest 
having been observed in either place. A few pair are believed 
to breed in England. 
Audubon gives an excellent account of this bird from his own 
observation. f 
THE EABED GREBE. 
Podiceps auritus, Linn, (sp.) 
Colymbus „ „ 
Can only be recorded with certainty as an extremely rare 
winter visitant. 
One was shot in January or Eebruary 1835, in Belfast Bay, when 
two young horned grebes were likewise obtained. On the 30th 
of November, 1816, two eared grebes were killed at a shot in 
Belfast Bay after a few nights of severe frost, accompanied by 
snow ; but either these individuals, or birds of the same species, 
had been seen singly in the bay for the preceding two months. 
The first time that they appeared in company was the day of their 
death. Two of the wild-fowl shooters attempted, but in vain, to 
procure the birds when observed singly. The rapidity of their 
movements under water surprised them, as “ one moment they 
would be close to the shore, and the next far out in the water.” 
Grebes are very seldom seen in this bay. The two fowlers alluded 
to, though shooting here regularly for a period of from fifteen to 
twenty years, had never observed any grebes but these two, except- 
ing the Podiceps minor. One of them was so injured as to be unfit 
for preservation; the other was set up for the Belfast Museum. 
Their irides were vermilion-red. On dissection, both were ascer- 
tained to be males. Their stomachs exhibited quantities of feathers 
from different parts of their bodies, among which were several of 
a black colour from their dorsal plumage. They contained two large 
specimens of the doubly-spotted goby ( Gobius Puthensparii ) , a 
* St. John’s c Tour,’ &c. vol. i. 140. f c Orn. Biog.’ vol. iii. p. 429. 
