one, the stomach of which did not eontain a portion of feathers
which appeared to have been taken from the white
under surface of their own bodies. The same thing has been
noticed and recorded by others in the Magazine of Natural
History* This habit of swallowing feathers .alone appears
to be peculiar to the .Grebes only, but from fish-bones being
occasionally found mixed up with the feathers, there is cause
to suspect these birds reproduce, at will, from'the stomach,
the more indigestible parts of their last meal as hawks, owls,
shrikes, and some other birds are known to do.
The Great-crested Grebe is father rare in some; parts of
the south of England, but has been seen occasionally in
Devon and Cornwall^ Mr. Diilwyn-has;notioët. it in Glamorganshire
; and Mr. Eyton m Shropshire and North Wales.
Mr. Thompson says it is resident in Ireland on the larger
lakes; Mr. Heysham has recorded the capture-of both-old
and young in Cumberland; and Mr. Macgillivray, now of
Aberdeen, in his recently published Manual of’ the*'Water-
Birds of Great Britain and Ireland, says it is more numerous
in Scotland during winter than summerT ....
Of the Grebes in Scandinavia, Mr. Dann-sends me- wérd;
that, with thé exception of the Red-necked species,«^.ext to
be described, they are confined to the south of ,S\?eden, In
Norway they only appear as stragglers, and then-generally
on or hear the coast. M/Nilsson, the Swedish naturalist,
says the Great-crested Grebe breeds in their lakes;;;1 it is
found on some of the large reeded lakes of Russia and
Siberia; it is abundant in Germany, Holland, and France; is
found also at Tangiers, Smyrna, and the Caucasus.
The-under surface of the body of this bird being Of a
delicate. silvery whiteness, and of a shining.silky appearance,
one of the names of this well known bird is that of Satin
Grebe; and skins, from the beauty of their appearance, are
* Volume vi, page 519, and vol. ix, pp. 202 and 326.
in great request for making into muffs for ladies, or, more
frequently to cut up into^ narrow strips as trimming for pelisses.
À good skin sells for six or eight francs on the continent,
and in the * yicinity of the Lake of 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, called La chasse du Grèbe, is referred to by M.
Necker, in his paper on the Birds of Geneva, and has been
described, ,tc» me by an English gentleman who had pursued
the Amusement^'
A party.;©fi four-, as. shooters, hire a boat with able rowers,
and on- a calm day, when the' surface of 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 tlie boatmen pull with vigour in the direction the
bird has taken, in ordçï to be near it when it comes up to
Ih e surface to breathej&J One of the shooters stations himself
in thjÿbow oikth^bpat, one at the stern, and the others one
at each- side; about the middleman order that one o r 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 of the water
out df »shooting distance, and has perhaps altered its course,
but a good look-out being, kept by the shooters at their
different posts, the bird %foon descried, and the rowers again
J large the^oat in chace ; 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 chace is kept up for a time; the bird, partly exhausted
by the necessity of maintaining its exertions, and
- perhaps slightly wounded, is unable to remain so long under
water, but 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