if a Coot’s or Water-hen’s nest be not tenanted by its owner, it usually supplies free quarters to a Water-
Snake.” (Ibis, vol. ii. p. 159.)
Thus it will be seen that Northern Africa is the great stronghold o f this species. It also occurs in Asia
Minor, the Caucasus, Oriental Russia, Siberia, and China, as proved by its being enumerated in Mr. Swinhoe’s
‘List of the Birds of Amoy.’ The reader will now be able to form his own judgment as to the countries this
bird frequents. In England and Ireland its visits are uncertain, though not unfrequent. In its winter dress it
very much resembles the Sclavonian Grebe; but it may at all times be distinguished from that bird by its
more diminutive size, and by the upward curvature o f the bill. In their summer dress they are so very
different that a glance at the two Plates on which they are represented will be sufficient to show that they
are quite distinct.
Mr. Gatcombe, of Plymouth, to whom I am indebted for many interesting notes respecting our native
birds, informs me that he has killed immature birds near that town, and, many years since, an old male in
full summer plumage. I find also among my MSS. a note from Mr. Robert Rising, o f Yarmouth in Norfolk.
This note was kindly placed at my disposal by Mr. Leadbeater. It relates to a very fine adult example in
full dress which had been sent to him to be mounted, near the end o f August 1863, and is as follows:— “ The
Grebe was killed on Horsey Mere, on the 6 th o f May last, with two others, and a fourth on the day following.
These birds (two males and two females) had been seen continually on the mere through the winter
and up to the very time they were shot, and would most likely have. been killed long before, had they not
been luckily mistaken for Dabchicks. I much regret I did not give instructions for the reeds and shores
round the mere to be well searched after the birds were killed, as I can scarcely resist the conviction that
they had already nested there, as the water had become so entirely their habitat during all this time.”
Mr. Stevenson, of Norwich, states that “ the habits of this species appear to be almost exactly the reverse
o f the Sclavonian, being frequently obtained in its summer plumage during April and May, but rarely met
with in its winter dress; indeed a single bird shot at. Lynn, in November 1857, is the only record, in my
notes for the last twelve years, of its appearance at the latter season. Messrs. Gurney and Fisher, writing
in 1846, observe, ‘ In the month of April last no less than five specimens of the Eared Grebe were killed
within a week at Wroxham and other places in the county; and it is somewhat remarkable that these have
all proved, upon dissection, to be male birds.’ A fine specimen, in full breeding-plumage, was shot at Sutton
in April 1849; and in the ‘Zoologist’ for 1851 (pp. 3116, 3175) I find two notices o f Eared Grebes, from
the neighbourhood of Yarmouth, being purchased in the London markets. The first, killed on the 14th
o f April o f that year, was sent up to London with some Crested Grebes ; and a fine male and female,
shot on the 17th, were purchased by a London dealer, who also received another pair in May 1852 from
the same locality; and the females in both instances contained eggs, about the size o f small marbles. In
1854, about the 18th o f May, a very beautiful specimen was killed at either Burgh or Filby, which is now
in the collection o f the Rev. C. Lucas. In 1861 a pair, assuming summer plumage, were shot at Kimberley,
the seat o f Lord Wodehouse, on the 30th of March, and on the 24th o f April o f the same year a perfect
example at Martham, and one in half change on Hickling Broad. The following summer, however, was
even more remarkable for the number of these birds obtained in full summer plumage. One o f these
females is said to have contained a quantity of eggs ; and there is little doubt, from their late appearance
on our broads in summer, that this Grebe, like the Sclavonian, would occasionally remain to breed if
undisturbed; but unfortunately, though little observed in the sombre garb o f winter, the very brilliancy of
their nuptial plumage ensures instant persecution.”
In summer the adult male has the head and neck black; from behind the eye, spreading over the
ear-coverts, a triangular patch o f silky light-chestnut-coloured feathers; all the upper surface and wings
dark brown; the secondaries white, but scarcely perceptible when the wing is closed; breast and under
surface shining silvery white; flanks chestnut; bill black; irides and eyelash red; legs dark green
externally, lighter within.
In winter the crown o f the head is dark brown, the other parts of the head and chin pure white; back of
the neck and upper surface dark brown.
The Plate represents a male and a female o f the size o f life. The plant is the Flowering Rush ( Butomus
umbellatus).