weed, which agrees so nearly with the surrounding herbage, as to pass wholly undetected unless carefully
looked for. When unmolested, they are by no means sby, but at a respectful distance may be watched for
any length of time, diving after their food, or preening their glossy feathers, the rich chestnut crests o f the
old birds glistening in the sun as they shake the moisture from their silky plumage. In winter the Loons
quit the inland broads altogether, and betake themselves to the vicinity o f the sea-coast, where they are not
unfrequently killed on Breydon or other saline waters, kept open during the sharpest frosts by the action of
the tides.”
It may not be considered out o f place, in a writer on our native birds, to question the taste o f using the skin
of this bird for decorative purposes. Fashion, however, will have its sway, even to the annihilation o f so
ornamental a bird as a Grebe. How much is this to be regretted! How palpably wrong is it that every pair
which annually take up their abode on our great broads and extensive sheets o f water should be harassed
and shot down for this purpose! Yet such is the case. A writer in the ‘ Zoologist,’ for the year 1851, makes
a boast o f having collected twenty-nine o f these birds in full summer plumage, all in Norfolk. Wholesale
destruction like this almost amounts to extermination: such wicked acts are most reprehensible; for,
besides the cruelty, it is killing the goose that lays the golden egg.
“ The under surface o f the body,” says Mr. Yarrell, “ being o f a delicate silvery whiteness, and of a
shining silky appearance, one of the names of this well-known bird is that o f Satin Grebe; and skins, from
their beauty, are in great request for making ladies’ muffs, or, more frequently, to cut up into narrow
strips as trimming for pelisses. A good skin sells for six or eight francs on the Con tin en tan d in the
vicinity of the Lake o f Geneva, which is frequented in autumn by these birds, it is usual for sportsmen to
make parties on the lake to obtain specimens by shooting. This sport has been described to me by an
English gentleman who had pursued the amusement.
“ A party of four hire a boat, with able rowers, and on a calm day, when the surface o f the lake is
smooth, they put off, and look out, with telescopes, for a large Grebe, towards which the men row. On
their approach, the bird dives; and the boatmen pull with vigour in the direction the bird has taken, in
order to be near it when it comes up to the surface to breathe. One o f the shooters stations himself in
the bow of the boat, one at the stern, and the others, one on each side, about the middle, in order that one
or the other may be in a position to take the shot as soon as the bird is visible. At the commencement of
the pursuit, when the bird is strong, it frequently comes to the surface o f the water out of shooting-distance,
and has perhaps altered its course; but, a good look-out being kept by the shooters at their different posts,
the bird is soon descried, and the rowers again urge the boat in chase; the bird dives again, and is again
pursued, and, on rising, is perhaps shot at, but at too great a distance to be effectual, and the bird dives
again. In this way the chase is kept up for a tim e: the bird, partly exhausted by the necessity of
maintaining its exertions, and perhaps slightly wounded, is unable to remain so long under water; but,
as the boat is close at hand, the exertion must be continued, and the Grebe still rises and dives again with
so much rapidity that several unsuccessful shots are frequently made. The rowers, from practice, calculating
the length o f time the chase has lasted, can tell very nearly, whenever the bird dives, how many strokes of
the oars will bring the boat near the place where it may be expected to rise; and by giving out this notice,
and counting aloud, the interest is kept up throughout the pursuit, till a fortunate shot gives the fatal blow,
when the prize is handed into the boat, and the telescope again put into requisition to find out a new victim.”
Crown of the head and ear-tufts dark olive-brown ; lower part o f the frill pure black; chin and sides
o f the face fawn-white, gradually passing beneath into reddish chestnut; a stripe o f reddish chestnut also
surmounts the eye; back of the neck, back, and rump blackish brown, most o f the feathers having greyish
edges; centre of wing and primaries the same colour; but the upper part of the wing and some o f the
secondaries are pure white, as is also the rest o f the body, the under surface being very silvery; bill light
horn-colour, excepting the culmen, which is o f an olive h u e ; irides brilliant crimson, passing, in the corners
of the eye, into rosy white; between the eye and the bill a narrow mark o f *naked, dark olive-brown skin,
continued over the bill towards the nostrils and on the base o f the lower mandible; immediately below the
bare skin on the lores is a little lengthened tuft of olive-brown feathers ; tarsi and outer side o f the toes
olive beneath, and dull primrose-yellow at the upper joint in front; inside of the tarsi and toes horny
white, inclining to yellow in parts ; nails pale blue.
It gives me sincere pleasure to record my thanks to my excellent friend Lord Hill, for his kindness in
enabling me to render the accompanying Plate so perfect as it is. From the extensive lake at Hawkstone,
where it annually breeds, he has sent me examples o f this Grebe in every stage, from youth to maturity.
Neither am I less indebted to the Hon. Rowland Hill; both father and son take a lively interest, not only in
the productions of their own, but o f every other country.
The Plate represents an old bird, the size o f life, with a brood o f young ones a day old.