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GREBE (Fr. grebe)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 423 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GREBE (Fr. grebe) , the generally accepted name for all the birds of the See also:family Podicipedidae,l belonging to the See also:group Pygopodes of Illiger, members of which inhabit almost all parts of the See also:world. Some systematic writers have distributed them into several so-called genera, but, with one exception, these seem to he insufficiently defined, and here it will be enough to allow but two—Latham's Podiceps and the Centropelma of Sclater and Salvin. Grebes are at once distinguishable from See also:Great Crested Grebe. all other See also:water-birds by their rudimentary tail and the See also:peculiar structure of their feet, which are not only placed far behind, but have the tarsi flattened and elongated toes furnished with broad lobes of skin and See also:flat See also:blunt nails. In See also:Europe are five well-marked See also:species of Podiceps, the commonest and smallest of which is the very well-known dab-chick of See also:English ponds, P. fiuviatilis or See also:minor, the little grebe of ornithologists, found throughout the See also:British Islands, and with a wide range in the old world. Next in See also:size are two species known as the eared and horned grebes, the former of which, P. nigricollis, is a visitor from the See also:south, only occasionally showing itself in See also:Britain and very rarely breeding, while the latter, P. auritus, has a more See also:northern range, breeding plentifully in See also:Iceland, and is a not uncommon See also:winter-visitant. Then there is the larger red-necked grebe, P. griseigena, also a northern See also:bird, and a native of the subarctic parts of both Europe and See also:America, while lastly the great crested grebe, P. cristatus or gaunt—known as the loon on the See also:meres and broads of See also:East Anglia and some other parts of See also:England, is also widely spread over the old world. See also:North America is credited with seven species of grebes, of which two (P. griseigena and P. auritus) are admitted to be specifically inseparable from those already named, and two (P. occidentalis and P. californicus) appear to be but See also:local forms; the remaining two (P. dominicus and P. ludovicianus) may, however, be accounted See also:good species, and the last differs so much from other grebes that many systematists make it the type of a distinct genus, Podilymbus. South America seems to possess four or five more species, one of which, the P. micro pterus of See also:Gould (Prot. Zool. Society, 1858, p. 220), has been deservedly separated ' Often, but erroneously, written Podicipidae.

The word Podiceps being a contracted See also:

form of Podicipes (cf. Gloger, See also:Journal See also:fur Ornithologie, 1854, p. 430, See also:note), a See also:combination of podex, podicis and pes, pedis, its further compounds must be in accordance with its derivation.from the genus Podiceps under the name Centropelma by Sclater and Salvin (Exot. See also:Ornithology, p. 189, p1. xcv.), owing to the form of its See also:bill, and the small size of its wings, which renders it absolutely flightless. See also:Lake Titicaca in See also:Bolivia is, so far as is known at See also:present, its only See also:habitat. Grebes in See also:general, though averse from taking wing, have much greater See also:power of See also:flight than would seem possible on examination of their alar See also:organs, and are capable of prolonged aerial journeys. Their plumage is See also:short and See also:close. Above it is commonly of some shade of See also:brown, but beneath it is usually See also:white, and so glossy as to be in much See also:request for muffs and the trimming of ladies' dresses. Some species are remarkable for the crests or tippets, generally of a See also:golden-See also:chestnut See also:colour, they assume in the breeding See also:season. P. auritus is particularly remarkable in this respect, and when in its full nuptial attire presents an extraordinary aspect, the See also:head (being surrounded, as it were, by a nimbus or aureole, such as that with which painters adorn saintly characters), reflecting the rays of See also:light, glitters with a See also:glory that passes description. All the species seem to have. similar habits ,of See also:nidification.

Water-weeds are pulled from the bottom of the See also:

pool, and piled on a convenient See also:foundation, often a seminatant growth of See also:bog-See also:bean (Menyanthes), till they form a large See also:mass, in the centre of which a shallow See also:cup is formed, and the eggs, with a chalky white See also:shell almost equally pointed at each end, are laid—the See also:parent covering them, whenever she has See also:time to do so, before leaving the See also:nest. See also:Young grebes are beautiful See also:objects, clothed with See also:black, white and brown down, disposed in streaks and their bill often brilliantly tinted. When taken from the nest and placed on dry ground, it is curious to observe the way in which they progress-using the wings almost as fore-feet, and suggesting the notion that they must be quadrupeds instead of birds. (A.

End of Article: GREBE (Fr. grebe)

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