BLACK-CHINNED GREBE. 
211 
motions of the otter, where every turn seems given 
with perfect ease, at the same time with great ac- 
tivity and quickness. Mr. Selby mentions some- 
times taking the Little Grebe in pools left by the 
tide, where no endeavour w T as made to escape 
by flight, and where it tried to conceal itself under 
the fronds of algse. Upon the continent of Eu- 
rope we find its distribution somewhat similar to 
what it is in Great Britain and Ireland, but its 
extra-European range does not seem to be so well 
determined. There seems to be one or two small 
Asiatic species closely allied, that are different, and 
may have been confounded with it in the notices of 
it from that continent ; at the same time we have it 
noted in the catalogues of Indian birds by persons 
on whom dependence can be placed. In our own 
collection we have specimens which appear in every 
way identical, both in summer and winter plumage, 
from the Cape of Good Hope and South Africa. 
It does not extend to North America. 
A specimen shot in a loch in Sutherland in June, 
when it might be considered as in full breeding 
plumage, has the throat, the head above the eyes, 
and back of the neck, dark brownish black, glossed 
with green ; the cheeks, sides, and fore part of the 
back, chestnut-red; the upper plumage with the 
wings blackish brown, shading round the breast to 
a paler tint, which is continued down the sides and 
flanks, and gradually shades into a silvery grey, 
covering the centre of the belly and vent ; seconda- 
ries tipped with white, but only seen during flight ; 
