PODICEPS ADRITUS
PODICEPS 1URITUS
Horned Grebe.
Podiceps arcticiu, Boie..
- comutus, Temm.
I r e g r e t exceedingly that the specific term cornutus cannot with propriety be retained for a bird which has
hitherto been so familiarly known by that appellation to every British ornithologist, inasmuch as no doubt
remains on my mind that it was to this species that Linnaeus originallv applied the term auritus, and not to
the Eared Grebe ( Podiceps mgrHwlfu). On a perusal of my account of the latter species it will be found that
it is a native o f the warmer {»ortions o f Europe and o f North Africa; while the Horned or Sclavoniau Grebe,
as it is frequently called, habitually frequents all countries suitable to its habits lying northward o f Britain
as far as the Arctic circle. Nilsson states that it breeds in the reedy parts o f the shallow waters o f Sweden
Temminek that it is more often seen in Germany and the eastern parts of Europe, and that it is also found
in France, ‘Switzerland, Provence, and Italy. It is said to inhabit the northern parts of Asia and the
vicinity o f the' Caspian Sea, America, from Hudson’s Bay and the fur-countries (where Dr. Richardson
tells us it is very common on every lake with grassy borders), Canada, and the United States, to
Florida. In England it resorts to the coast and the few fenny districts yet remaining; it is not uncommon
in several parts o f Ireland in winter; and Macgillivray informs us it is not unfrequently to be met with
in the estuaries o f Scotian^ at the same season, and is sometimes shot in considerable numbers.
Specimeus have been killed in Cornwall, Devonshire, Sussex, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, and on the coasts
of Durham and Northumberland. Mr. Dunn, in his useful ‘ Ornithologist’s Guide,’ says:— “ This beautiful
species is extremely rare both in Orkney and Shetland; but I saw seven or eight, in the month o f April.
It is a very shy bird, and, when alarmed, dives to a great distance, and on coming to the surface
immediately takes wing. The young, known by the name o f Dusky Grebe, is very rare. Two or three
pairs used to frequent the Loch o f Stenness, in the neighbourhood of Stromness.” Sir William .Jardine,
who considers it to be, next to the Little Grebe, the most common species in Scotland, remarks that
specimens occur during the whole winter in the Edinburgh markets.
In Ireland, according to Thompson, it “ can be positively announced only as an occasional winter
visitant.” A few individuals, killed in the north o f Ireland ip winter, bad come under his observation— one
obtained in Strancrford Lough, in November 1821, and others near Wfoitehoiise, below Holvwood, and near
Bnwgw (all in Belfast Bay), in Coleraine, near Dublin, ■*£. ip Wales, a specimen was shot at Penrice,
Mr. Newton, in his notes “ On the Ornithology of Iceland,” says the Horned Grebe is very generally
distributed on lakes throughout the western half, and probably the whole, o f the island. It arrives at the
beginning o f April or the first week in May, and, after breeding, departs in the autumn.
Mr. Proctor, the subcurator o f the Durham University Museum, who visited Iceland »a the summer
o f 1837, observed »hat '■ this bird frequents the fresh waters and breeds amidst the reeds and other
rank herbage. The gj&t w htvgtr, «fid lb*»«* •:>« the surface of the water, with which it rises and falls.
It is composed m of wstfe» uiwi «utnuit' plant** The. eggs when laid, are o f a
bluish white; but they :«>**» hr «* iwwn ■■■- / : 0Ü :• v/'j.-i-' fhtf ttgft I» Having
observed one of;-these binls .d;• • ; • ., H>. •• gun at wr vWnÄMer waiting
its reappearawBf As sOon as -r ; ■' bre»i and j p H -. '■■■ • :•■••••• young ones,
which, it. .seems, had been concealed beneath the she t/wnat bird, drop upon the water. I
afterwardsshorceveral %tliers of ‘this species, all o f wisdt dived tfeeir young under their «rings. The
young were placed with fheir heads towards the tail and their hiß* on the bar-k of tbeir parents.”
Mr. Stevenson informs me that “ the Horned Grein is frv tkj mtfrn» uncommon in Norfolk throughout
the autumn and winter, whemhoth young and old are to be met with in severe weather. Occasionally it
remains late enough in the spring to acquire its rich breediag-ptenagr- A splendid pair, in full nuptial
attire, in my own collection, and a young bird in that of Mr. Garney, were killed on Uh Hfeb o f \prti,
on Sutton Broad. On dissection, they proved to be an old male and a voang oude and festafe. Fbcit
stomachs were crammed with a compact mass o f feathers, mixed with, and stetwed by. the p « * < onterva
from the surfacölof she water, the only particle o f foot! being a small toowa b .- '
female. The fact o f the Grebes swallowing their own feather* bs» bre* iw In
Fleming, and other jiaturalists; but no satisfmtorv riwrhsKM v, I c w a