Part 65

The Great Crested Grebe is thus described by Sir Thomas Browne, under the name of Loon: 'A handsome and specious fowl, cristated, and with divided fin-feet placed very backward. They come about April, and breed in the broad waters; so making their nest in the water, that their eggs are seldom dry while they are set on.' Fifty years ago the Loon continued to be so common on the Broads of Norfolk that eighteen or twenty might be counted together. It is more or less resident in England and Wales--in the meres of the Midlands and the lakes of Breconshire, and has lately bred in the vicinity of the Clyde.

The movements of this bird in the water are described as most graceful; in swimming it vies with the Swan, and it is a skilful diver. As seen perched up in a museum its form is ungainly, but in its native element it might serve as the standard of perfection among water birds. The legs, compressed so as to present a sharp edge, cut the water with a minimum of resistance; the webbed feet are placed so far backwards that they fulfil at once the office of propellers and rudder; the body is conical and covered with satiny plumage, which throws off water as perfectly as the fur of the otter; the long neck tapers to exceedingly narrow dimensions and terminates in a small head produced into a slender bill. The conformation of the greyhound is not better adapted for fleet running than that of the Grebe for rapid diving. The chase, I need scarcely add, consists of fish; but the Loon will feed on frogs, tadpoles, and any other small animals which fall in its way. It frequents fresh water during the summer months, but on the approach of winter repairs to the sea, not, it would seem, from any desire of varying its food, but to avoid being frozen up. It builds its nest among rushes or decaying weeds, but little above the level of the water, and lays four eggs, the male assisting his partner in the office of incubation.

The young can dive and swim immediately that they are hatched; but if the mother be suddenly alarmed while they are with her, she takes them under her wing and dives with them.

The name Loon is supposed to be a corruption of the Finnish designation, Leomme or Lem, 'lame', given to several of the Colymbidæ on account of the awkwardness with which they advance on land.

The Loon is found in lakes throughout a great portion of both the eastern and western hemispheres, but not very far to the north. It rarely flies, except at the period of migration, when it passes swiftly through the air, with neck and feet extended to their full length.

RED-NECKED GREBE PÓDICIPES GRISEÍGENA

Bill as long as the head, black, yellow at the base; distance from the nostrils to the tip eleven lines; crest very short; head and crest lustrous black; cheeks and throat mouse-colour; a black band along the nape; breast bright rust-red; lower parts white; flanks spotted with dusky; feet black, greenish yellow beneath. Young birds have the head, neck, and back, dusky; throat, cheeks, breast, belly, and abdomen, silky white; sides of the breast spotted with grey. Length sixteen inches. Eggs dirty greenish white.

The Red-necked Grebe is smaller than the Loon, from which it differs also in wanting the elongated crest, in having a more robust bill in proportion to its size, and is further distinguished by the grey hue of its cheeks, on account of which last character it is known in France under the name of Grébe Jou-gris. It is a native of the north-eastern parts of Europe, and is fairly common along the eastern coast of Great Britain from autumn to spring. In habits it differs little from the last described species, but is less common, occurring both in fresh-water lakes and along the sea-coast.

SLAVONIAN GREBE PÓDICIPES AURITUS

Bill strong, shorter than the head, compressed throughout its whole length, black, with the tip red; eyes with a double iris, the inner yellow, the outer red; distance from the nostrils to the tip of the bill six or seven lines; head and bushy ruff glossy black; two horn-like crests orange-red; lore, neck, and breast, bright chestnut; upper plumage dusky; secondaries and under parts white; bill black, rose-coloured at the base and red at the tip. Young--crest and ruff wanting; upper plumage and flanks dusky ash, under parts white; irides white, surrounded by red. Eggs dirty white.

The Slavonian, or Horned Grebe, approaches so closely in habits to the two preceding species that it is unnecessary to say more than that it inhabits the northern parts of America and Europe, visiting us from autumn to spring. Audubon describes its nest as a rude structure of weeds, situated at a distance of about twelve feet from the water's edge; but other authors state that though it constructs its nest of these materials, it disposes it among weeds in such a way that it rises and falls with every alteration in the level of the water. It lays from five to seven eggs, and the male is supposed to assist in the office of incubation.

THE BLACK-NECKED OR EARED GREBE PÓDICIPES NIGRICOLLIS

In summer the head and neck of this species are black, with a triangular patch of long golden-reddish feathers on the ear-coverts. Breast and belly white--flanks a dull chestnut, bill black, upcurved slightly. In winter it resembles the last named Grebe in plumage, excepting that it is white on the primaries. Length twelve inches.

This is essentially a bird of the south, visiting us in spring and summer, but also now and again in autumn and winter, but this more rarely. It is said to have bred occasionally in the southern counties, and more often in Suffolk and Norfolk. To the north it becomes more scarce, although it has been observed up to the Orkneys. Just a few instances are recorded from Cumberland, but the bird is rare on our western side. Very few have been met with in Ireland. In Algeria it is said to nest in "societies more densely crowded than any rookery," the nests being raised on islets with stout foundations constructed by the bird. In Denmark the nests observed were on tussocks at the edge of the lake, and they were made of moss, part of which the female used to cover her eggs with on leaving them.

THE LITTLE GREBE, OR DABCHICK PÓDICIPES FLUVIÁTILIS

Bill very short, shining, compressed; no crest or ruff; distance from nostrils to tip of the bill five lines; tarsus with a double row of serratures behind; head black; cheeks bright chestnut; breast and flanks dusky, mottled with white; upper parts dark brown, tinged with green; primaries ash-brown; secondaries white at the base and on the inner web, under parts dusky ash, tinged on the thighs with reddish; bill black, whitish at the tip and base of the lower mandible; irides reddish brown; feet externally greenish brown, beneath flesh-colour. Young birds are ash-brown above, slightly tinged with red; breast and flanks reddish white; belly pure white; bill brown and yellowish ash. Length nearly ten inches. Eggs dirty white.

The Lesser Grebe, or, as it is more commonly called, the Dabchick, is the only species with which it is possible to become familiarly acquainted in Britain. It frequents rivers, ponds, and lakes, in all parts of the country, rarely flying, and still more rarely coming to land.

Rambling by the side of a sluggish river, the sides of which are lined with reeds or bulrushes, one may often descry, paddling about with undecided motion, what appears to be a miniature Duck no longer than a Blackbird. It does not, like the Moor-hen, swim with a jerking movement, nor when alarmed does it half swim and half fly in a direct line for the nearest bank of weeds. If you are unobserved, it swims steadily for a short distance, then suddenly disappears, making no splash or noise, but slipping into the water as if its body were lubricated. It is diving for its food, which consists of water insects, molluscs, small fish and worms. As suddenly as it dives so suddenly does it reappear, most likely not far from the spot where you first observed it:

A di-dapper peering through a wave, Who, being looked on, ducks as quickly in. SHAKSPEARE.

Another short swim and it dives again; and so it goes on, the time spent under the water being far in excess of that employed in taking breath. Advance openly or make a noise, it wastes no time in idle examinations or surmises of your intentions, but slips down as before, not, however, to reappear in the same neighbourhood. Its motives are different: it now seeks not food, but safety, and this it finds first by diving, and then by propelling itself by its wings under water in some direction which you cannot possibly divine; for it by no means follows that it will pursue the course to which its bill pointed when it went down. It can alter its line of flight beneath the water as readily as a swallow can change its course of flight through the air. But wherever it may reappear, its stay is now instantaneous; a trout rising at a fly is not more expeditious. You may even fail to detect it at all. It may have ensconced itself among weeds, or it may be burrowing in some subaqueous hole. That it has the power of remaining a long while submerged, I have no doubt. There is in the parish of Stamford Dingley, Berks, a large and beautiful spring of water, clear as crystal, the source of one of the tributaries of the Thames. I was once bending over the bank of this spring, with a friend, watching the water, some five or six feet down, as it issued from a pipe-like orifice and stirred the sand around like the bubbling of a cauldron, when there suddenly passed between us and the object we were examining a form so strange that we were at first doubtful to what class of animals we should refer it. In reality, it was a Dabchick, which, alarmed probably by the noise of our conversation, was making for a place of safety. As it passed within two or three feet of our faces, we could distinctly see that it propelled itself by its wings; but it appeared not to have observed us, for it kept on in a direct course towards the head of the spring. We searched long in the hope of discovering it again, but failed; and as there were no weeds among which it could possibly hide above water, and we could examine the bottom of the spring almost as thoroughly as if it contained air only, we could but conclude that our apparition had taken refuge in a hole under the bank.

Early in spring, when Dabchicks leave the small streams and watercourses for broader pieces of water, they have been observed to fly; and during the building season also they have been seen circling round in the air near the locality of their intended nest. The nest itself is constructed of weeds of all kinds, forming a thick mass raised but a few inches above the surface of the water, and invariably far enough from the bank to be inaccessible except by wading. The Dabchick lays five or six long-shaped eggs, pointed at either end, of a chalky white colour. These the bird, when she leaves the nest, covers with weeds for the purpose of concealment, and on her return continues the work of incubation without removing the covering, so that the eggs soon lose their white hue, and before the period of hatching have become very dirty. The young birds can swim and dive immediately on leaving the egg. I have never myself seen a Dabchick fly through the air or walk on land, neither have I ever heard its note. The latter, a low clicking and chattering sort of noise, it is said to utter in spring. It breeds even in St. James' Park. Females smaller than males.

ORDER TUBINARES

FAMILY PROCELLARIIDÆ

THE FULMAR PETREL PROCELLARIA GLACIÁLIS

Head, neck, under plumage, and tail, white; wings bluish ash, the primaries brownish grey; beak, irides, and feet, yellow. Young of the year grey tinged with brown, mottled on the back with deeper brown; bill and feet yellowish ash. Length nineteen inches. Eggs white.

In some of the Outer Hebrides Fulmars breed; but the great station, to which tens of thousands annually resort, is the remote island of St. Kilda. To the Fulmar indeed, and in a less degree to the Gannet and two or three other sea-birds, the island is indebted for its being able to boast of human inhabitants. Eggs and birds, fresh or salted, furnish them with food; the Fulmar with oil: and feathers pay their rent. In the Shetlands it is said to be increasing.

Professor James Wilson says: 'The oil is extracted from both the young and old birds, which, however, they must seize on suddenly and strangle, else, as a defensive movement, the desired (and pungent) oil is immediately squirted in the face and eyes of their opponent.' This oil is ejected, not, as it is sometimes said, through tubular nostrils, but directly through the throat and open mouth. The flesh of the Fulmar is also a favourite food with the St. Kildans, who like it all the better on account of its oily nature.

The Fulmar is essentially a sea-bird, and never comes to land except in the breeding season, when it builds its nest of herbage on the grassy shelves of the highest cliffs, and lays a single egg, if which be taken, it lays no more. The young birds are fed with oil by the parents, and on being molested spurt out through the throat and open mouth the same fluid, which, being of a rank smell, infects not only the nest, but the whole neighbourhood. The young birds, which are taken early in August, are boiled, and made to furnish a large quantity of fat, which is skimmed off and preserved for winter use. The old birds are considered great dainties.