GREBE, Podiceps, a genus of birds of the family Colynthidee, having the feet webbed not in the usual manner, but by a separate membrane for each toe, united only at the base. The tarsi (shanks) are so much compressed as to be almost like blades. Thu claws are large and fiat. The bill is about as long as the head, straight, and conical. The wings are short. There is no tail. The legs are attached so far back, that the birds when mihind assume an erect position, like penguins. They walk with difficulty, and all their motions on land are awkward. They sometimes shuffle along do their bellies like seals. But in water they are extremely agile; they swim rapidly, dive with extreme _quickness if alarmed, and pass to very considerable distances under water, moving there by means of their feet alone, and threading their way with wonderful expertness among the stalks and leaves of aquatic plants. feed on fishes, batrachians, crustaceans, and other aquatic animals, partly also on vegetable food. They are said sometimes to carry their young under their wings, and even to take them under water with them in diving to escape from enemies. The geographical distribution of the genus is very wide,
and some of its species are also very widely distributed. Four species are British, two of which are only winter birds of passage; but the GREAT-CRESTED GREBE (P. eristatus), and the LITTLE GREBE (P. minor), also called DABCHICK or DOBCHICK, are resident all the year. The little grebe is by far the most common British species. It does not exceed 10 in. in length. The great-cnsted grebe is rare, even in winter, when the number is increased by visitants from the north. It is sometimes called the SATIN GREBE, from the beautiful shining silvery feathers of the lower parts of its body, on account of which it is in great request, the skin being used to make muffs for ladies, or cut into narrow strips for trimming their dresses. Grebe-shooting is a favorite amuse ment on the lake of Geneva; the grebe is pursued by a boat, whilst it seeks to escape by diving and swimming under water. The males of some of the grebes have the head finely ornamented with tufts. The plumage of most of them vanes much at different ages and seasons