exhausted. These Grebes are by no means shy, and when undisturbed, amongst the reeds and grass, keep up
an incessant croaking. They swiftly glide through the water, and dart through thick, entangled masses of
weeds and grass with the ease and rapidity of a fish.” The late Mr. John Wolley, acting on information
supplied him by Mr. Dann, found that this bird was well known on the Kalix Noir, in the north o f Sweden,
and subsequently succeeded in getting specimens o f its eggs from the locality where that gentleman met
with it many years before.
Independently o f the countries mentioned above, I may state that it inhabits every other part o f Europe;
it is included in the 4 List of North African Birds ’ by Captain Loche; and specimens have been transmitted
from Trebizond in Persia. It does not extend its range to the peninsula o f India; but I find it included by
Schrenck in his account o f the Birds of the Amur-land, and Temminck says it is found in Japan. In
Greenland there is a bird of this form, which is so similar to the Podiceps rubricollis that they have been
considered identical by some, while others have regarded it as distinct, and have assigned to it the specific
designation of P . Holboelli. Among my MSS. I find a note to the following effect:— 44 American specimens
agree with European, except in being somewhat larger.” Dr. Baird, who calls it Podiceps griseigena,
evidently considers the bird identical with ours. It is likely, however, the American and Greenland birds
may be the same, and distinct from the true P . rubricollis, in which case the name o f P . Holboelli, assigned
to it by Reichenbach, should be retained.
In no respect do the sexes differ in colour: the same law which affects the male is also carried out in the
female; both assume the ornamental head-dress in summer, which gives place to a more sombre hue in
winter.
No difference occurs in the nidification o f this Grebe from that o f the other members o f the genus; the
nest is placed on the surface of the water, among aquatic herbage and reeds, o f which materials it is also built.
The eggs are four or five in number, o f a pale greenish white, and are somewhat smaller in size than those
of P . cristatus. They are often stained by the materials with which the nest is built, till they acquire a rich
orange-red hue; and it seems commonly the case for eggs o f the Grebe to be more brilliantly dyed than
those o f any other species.
Crown o f the head and back o f the neck dark olive-brown; upper surface o f the body brownish black •
cheeks and throat brownish grey, bordered with greyish white; primaries brownish black; secondaries
white ; front o f the neck, chest, and upper portion o f the flanks rich rusty r ed ; breast and abdomen, silvery
white; bill brownish horn-colour, except at the base, which, with the gape, is orange-yellow; ¡rides red ■
tarsi clouded with pea-green; upper side o f the toe bluish white, particularly in the centre o f the lobes.
The young bird o f the year has neither the red neck nor the elongated head-feathers; the throat is
brownish, and the abdomen less silvery; the part o f the neck which is red in summer is brown in the
youthful state; irides brown ; base o f the bill paler orange.
The Plate represents the two sexes of the size o f life, and a reduced bird in the distance. The plant is
the Buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliatd).