GREBES. 
543 
is no seasonal difference in the general plumage; this species being exclusively 
North American. The great crested grebe (P. cristatus), which is the largest 
member of the genus, and attains a length of from 21 to 22 inches, belongs, on the 
other hand, to a section in which the neck and beak are shorter, and the head of 
the adult is ornamented in the breeding-season at least, with coloured ruffs, tufts, 
or patches; while the general plumage in the breeding-season, differs considerably 
from that of the adult in winter, and likewise from that of the young. In this 
particular species the crest, although largest in summer, is borne throughout the 
year; but in others it disappears in winter completely. In its summer plumage, 
this bird may be recognised by its chestnut-coloured ear-coverts, and the white 
front of the lower neck and breast; while in winter it has the lores and a stripe 
over the eye white. 
Confined to the Eastern 
Hemisphere, this 
species is remarkable 
for the extent of its 
breeding - area, which 
includes Britain and 
Southern Europe, the 
whole of Africa, and 
the greater portion of 
Southern and Central 
Asia, as well as Aust¬ 
ralia and New Zealand. 
It is noteworthy that 
. the Australasian forms, 
though completely 
isolated, present no 
differences from the 
others. The smaller 
red-necked grebe (P. griseigena), which only measures 16 inches in length, 
takes its names from the chestnut hue of the front of the lower neck in the summer 
plumage, in which alone the crests on the head are present. Inhabiting a large 
portion of Northern Europe and Asia, this species appears to have a circumpolar 
distribution; although some writers regard the variety occurring in America and 
North-Eastern Asia as a distinct species, under the name of P. holboelli. A third 
group of the genus is characterised by the smaller size of its members, in which 
the neck is short, and the beak shorter than the head, while ear-tufts are present 
in the breeding-plumage. Its best known repi'esentative is the circumpolar 
Sclavonian grebe (P. cornutus), which visits the British Islands and Gibraltar in 
winter, and, except in Norway, does not breed north of the Arctic Circle. Measur¬ 
ing a little over 13 inches in length, it is characterised by its compressed beak; and 
the combination in the breeding-plumage of a chestnut fore-neck with black ear- 
tufts. On the other hand, the black-necked grebe (P. nigricollis ) may be recognised 
by the prevalence of black on both the fore-neck and the ear-coverts. Ranging 
over the greater part of Europe and Asia (except India and Burma), as well as 
CRESTED GREBE. 
