This species is common in the fens and lakes in various parts of England, where they breed and rear their young. The female conceals her nest among the flags and reeds which grow in the water, upon which it is said to float, and that she hatches her eggs amidst the moisture which oozes through it. It is made of various kinds of dried fibres, stalks, and leaves of water plants, and (Pennant says) the roots of bugbane, stalks of water-lily, pond-weed, and water-violet; and he asserts, that when it happens to be blown from among the reeds, it floats about upon the surface of the open water.
These birds are met with in almost every lake in the northern parts of Europe, as far as Iceland, and southward to the Mediterranean; they are also found in various parts of America.
Tippet Grebe, Greater Dabchick, or Greater Loon.—(Colymbus urinator, Linn. Le Grêbe, Buff.)—This bird differs from the last only in being somewhat less, in having its neck, in most specimens, striped downward on the sides with narrow lines of dusky and white, and in having no crest.
Modern ornithologists begin to suspect, that the tippet grebe is the female of the great crested grebe, or a young bird of that species, Latham says, “It is with some reluctance, that we pen our doubts concerning the identity of this, as a species, at least as being distinct from the great crested grebe, in contradiction to what former authors have recorded on the subject. It is certain that the last-named bird varies exceedingly at different periods of life; and we are likewise as certain, that the birds which have been pointed out to us as the Geneva grebes, have been no other than young ones of the great crested, not having yet attained the crest; and whoever will compare Brisson’s three figures of the birds in question, will find (the crest excepted) that they all exactly coincide, allowing for their different periods of ages.”
Eared Grebe.—This bird measures about twelve inches in length, and twenty two from tip to tip of the wings. The bill is black, inclining to red towards the base, rather slender, nearly an inch long, and slightly bent upwards at the point, lore and irides red; the head is thickly set and enlarged with feathers of a sooty black colour, except two large loose and spreading orange-coloured tufts, which take their rise behind each eye, flow backwards, and nearly meet at their tips, the neck and upper parts of the plumage are black, the under parts of a glossy white; the sides a rusty chestnut colour; legs greenish black. The male and female are nearly alike, only the latter is not furnished or puffed up about the head with such a quantity of feathers.
This species is not numerous in the British isles. Pennant says they inhabit and breed in the fens near Spalding in Lincolnshire, and that the female makes a nest not unlike that of the crested grebe, and lays four or five small white eggs. The eared grebe is found in the northern regions of Europe, as far as Iceland, and also met with in southern climates. The circumnavigator Bougainville says, it is called the “Diver with spectacles,” in the Falkland Islands.
Dusky Grebe, Black and White Dabchick, (Colymbus nigricans, Linn. La petite Grêbe Buff.)—This species measures about an inch less in length, and two in breadth, than the last. The bill is more than an inch long, and of a pale blue colour, with reddish edges; lore and orbits red; irides bright yellow: the upper part of the head, hinder part of the neck, scapulars, and rump, are of a dark sooty or a mouse-coloured brown; the feathers on the back are nearly of the same colour, but glossy, and with greyish edges; the ridge of the wings and secondary quills are white, the rest of the wing dusky. There is a pale spot before each eye; the cheeks and throat are white; the fore part of the neck is light brown; and the breast and belly are white and glossy like satin; the thighs and vent are covered with dirty white downy feathers; the legs are white behind, dusky on the outer side, and pale blue on the inner sides and shins; the toes and webbed membranes are also blue on the upper sides, and dark underneath.
Red-necked Grebe (Colymbus subscristatus, Le Jougris, Buff.)—This bird measures, from the bill to the rump, seventeen inches; to the end of the toes twenty-one; and weighs eighteen ounces and three quarters. The bill is about two inches long, dusky or horn-coloured on the ridge and tip, and on the sides of it, towards the corners of the mouth, of a reddish yellow; the underside of the lower mandible is also of the latter colour: lore dusky; irides dark hazel; the cheeks and throat are of a dirty or greyish white; the upper part of the head is black, with a greyish cast, and the feathers are lengthened on each side, on a line with the eyes backward, so as to look like a pair of rounded ears—these it can raise or depress at pleasure: the fore part and sides of the neck are of a dingy brown, mixed with feathers of a bright rusty red; the upper parts of the plumage are of a darkish mouse-coloured brown, lightest on the wing-coverts, deepest on the scapulars and rump, and edged with grey on the shoulders; the under parts are of a glossy white, like satin, mottled with indistinct brownish spots: primary quills brownish tawny, with dark-coloured tips; secondaries white: outer sides of the legs dusky, inner sides sallow green; webs of the outer toes flesh colour, middle ones redder, and the inner ones orange.
Pennant supposes the red-necked grebe to be only a variety of the great crested grebe; but Latham, who has been furnished with several specimens, is of opinion that it is a distinct species. He describes the adult males in full feather, as having their necks of an uniform reddish chestnut; and the younger birds, when they have not obtained their full plumage, to be only partially spotted on their necks with that colour.
Little Grebe, Dab-chick, Small Doucher, Dipper, or Didapper (Colymbus minutus, Linn.; Le Castagneaux, Buff.)—This is the least of the grebe tribe, weighing only between six and seven ounces, and measuring, to the rump, ten inches, to the end of the toes thirteen, and about sixteen from tip to tip of the wings. The bill is scarcely an inch long, of a dusky reddish colour; irides hazel; the head is thickly clothed with a downy kind of soft feathers, which it can puff up to a great size, or lay down flat at pleasure; the cheeks are mostly of a bay colour, fading towards the chin and throat into a yellowish white. The neck, breast, and all the upper parts of the plumage, are of a brown or chestnut colour, tinged with red, lightest on the rump: the belly is white, clouded with ash-colour, mixed with red: thighs and vent grey: greater quills dark brown; the lesser white on their inner webs: legs dirty olive green.