GREAT CRESTED GREBE.
PODICEPS CRISTATUS (Linn.).
Colymbus cristatus, Linn. S. N. i. p. 222 (1766); Naum. ix.
p. 686.
Podiceps cristatus, Macg. v. p. 250; Yarr. ed. 4, iv. p. 117;
Dresser, viii. p. 629.
Grébe huppd, French; Grosser Lappentaucher, German ;
¡Somormujo, Zambullidor, Spanish.
Notwithstanding the persecution to which this remarkably
beautiful species was formerly, and still is to a
certain extent, subjected, to satisfy the fancy of ladies
for its breast-feathers for their personal adornment, I
am glad to be able to state, from authentic private
information, that of late years it has appeared and
breeds in several localities in England where it was
previously almost unknown, and that in more than one
of these localities it is jealously protected by the proprietors.
My own first personal acquaintance with this
Grebe was formed on our Northamptonshire river, the
Nene, in my early shooting-days, when nothing that
flew or dived was sacred for me; but it is now a source
of no slight gratification to me to reflect that both examples
of this locally rare species, that I schemed for days