RED-NECKED GREBE.
P0V1CEPS RUBRICOLLIS.
TnEiiE is, I believe, no recorded instance of this Grebe having been met with breeding within the
limits of the British Islands, and I am unable to give any information that would assist in proving
they ever remained as residents on the freshwater broads or the remote lochs of our northern or eastern
counties during the summer months. That the juveniles make a start at an early date from the distant
haunts in which they have been reared I have, however, good evidence, a young bird in the immature
plumage of the first autumn having been obtained on Breydon Water, near Yarmouth, on the lllll of
August, 1S73. The adults also quit their northern summer-quarters at much the same time. On the
3rd of August 1872, I obtained a good view of a handsome old bird in full plumage about a mile off
Brighton; it had escaped observation owing to the swell, and did not rise from the water till the lugger,
in which we were proceeding to sea on a conger-lishiug expedition, was within the distance of ten yards;
having, however, unfortunately omitted to charge my gun, the chance of a shot was lost. After having
been marked down atiout a quarter of a mile to windward, we failed to catch a glimpse of it again, the
breeze hating freshened and heavy seas occasionally rolling in and breaking.
Though luck had turned against us while iu pursuit of tho Grebe, we mot with very great success
when the marks" over the wreck, about which the big eels resorted, were reached. It bad been reported
a few days previously by one of the Brighton boatmen that a conger weighing seventy or eighty pounds had
broken away from his line at this spot, after being struck by the gaff, which had left a deep and
conspicuous wound iu its neck. The whiting proved exceedingly- numerous and kept us constantly
at work, while they swam round aad round in shoals about the blocks of stone that had been the cargo
of the vessel and now afforded shelter for the congers to repose in. For an hour or so our baits were
only taken by congers of twenty-Are or thirty pounds, but at last a line was seized by one that strongly
resisted all efforts to bring him to the surface. At length after a delay of n quarter of an hour, during
which time he probably held on by- one of the blocks of stone or pieces of old timber, he came in view,
and the cut below the gills was plainly seen as he rolled round. Alter darting down again two or three
times willi irresistible force, be Moated quietly up. apparently beginning to feel the effects of his struggle
to escape, and was safely lifted into the boat by three of our crew armed with gaffs and well acquainted
with such work. Although six feet one and a half inches iu length, bis weight was ten or twelve
ponnds less than what we had been led to expect; the fine condition, however, in which he proved
to be accounted for his strength and the protracted resistance offered. Our total score that day amounted