The Black-Necked or Eared Grebe — Podicipes Nigricollis, C. L. Brehm
Unlike the preceding species, this is a southern Grebe, stragglers of which are occasionally met with most frequently in spring, and there is evidence that it may have nested with us on more than one occasion. To Scotland and Ireland it is a very rare wanderer.
The adult in spring has the head and neck black with a triangular patch of yellowish chestnut feathers on the ear coverts; upper parts dark brown; under parts white; flanks chestnut. All the secondaries white, and a good deal of white on the four innermost primaries. Bill black, up-curved in front of the angle. In winter the ear tufts and black on the throat are lost, and at this season it closely resembles the preceding species, but the white on the primaries will always serve to distinguish it. Length 12 in.; wing 5 in.