search | about the author | about the text
(Podiceps minor, Lath.—Le Castagneux, 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; head thickly clothed with downy soft feathers, which it can puff up to a great size, or lay down flat at pleasure: cheeks mostly bay, fading towards the chin and throat into a yellowish white. Neck, breast, and all the upper part of the plumage, brown or chesnut, tinged with red, lightest on the rump: belly white, clouded with ash, mixed with red: thighs and vent grey: greater quills dark brown; the lesser white on their inner webs: legs dirty olive green.
The little Grebe is a true aquatic, for it seldom quits the water, nor ventures beyond the sedgy margins of the lake where it has taken up its abode. It is a most excellent diver, and can remain a long while under water, in pursuit of its prey, or to shun danger. It is found in almost every lake, and sometimes upon rivers, but seldom goes out to sea. Its food is of the same kind, and its habits much the same as those of the other Grebes.
Ornithologists and sportsmen describe the nest of this bird as being of a large size, and composed of a very great quantity of grass and water plants, at least a foot in thickness, and so placed in the water, that the female hatches her eggs amidst the continual wet, in which they were first laid: and it is conjectured that the natural warmth of her body occasions a fermentation of the herbage, which greatly aids the incubation. She lays from four to six eggs, of a yellowish dull white, and is said to cover them up, with the surrounding leaves, every time she has occasion to stir abroad.
This species of the Grebe is an inhabitant of both Europe and America. In several specimens furnished by the author's sporting friends, the difference was very trifling, except that the plumage of some was more dashed with red than that of others.
Page last modified 10/9/2000.
These pages are best viewed/printed with Internet Explorer, the browser that you're not using right now....
Like this page? Let me know. Hate it? Let me know that too. Click here to offer feedback.
©1999-2002 The edited materials, images, and photographs on this site should not be reproduced without the written permission of Peter Friesen. Contact peter.friesen@plattsburgh.edu for information.
