Lot Essay
Gould expressed great anxiety for the Great-crested Grebe, for its ear-tufts, head and breast feathers were in great demand as millinery and jewellery decoration. 'How much this is to be regretted!' Gould protested. 'Wholesale destruction like this almost amounts to extermination: such wicked acts are most reprehensible; for, besides its cruelty, it is killing the goose that lays the golden egg.'
Fortunately, Gould's fears were not realised, for although the British population was reduced to just forty pairs by 1860, a Bird Protection Act was passed, fashion changed, and today the grebes are plentiful.
The grebe nestlings with their extraordinary striped markings, are depicted at only a day old when they could already swim and dive with astonishing agility. When they wanted to rest, they would scramble on to their mother's back, or if in danger, dive with her beneath the surface of the water.
DISTRIBUTION: Breeds Eurasia from British Isles and southern Scandinavia east to southwest Siberia, west and north China and Japan, south to northwest and north North Africa through to north India, locally in east and southern Africa; also Australasia. Eurasian populations winter south to Mediterranean area and east to India. In Britain, declined to its lowest numbers in mid-nineteenth century due, at least in part, to demands of plumage trade. Steadily increased there after with protection and increase in reservoirs and gravel-pits, and estimated to now be over 7,000 adult breeding birds
Fortunately, Gould's fears were not realised, for although the British population was reduced to just forty pairs by 1860, a Bird Protection Act was passed, fashion changed, and today the grebes are plentiful.
The grebe nestlings with their extraordinary striped markings, are depicted at only a day old when they could already swim and dive with astonishing agility. When they wanted to rest, they would scramble on to their mother's back, or if in danger, dive with her beneath the surface of the water.
DISTRIBUTION: Breeds Eurasia from British Isles and southern Scandinavia east to southwest Siberia, west and north China and Japan, south to northwest and north North Africa through to north India, locally in east and southern Africa; also Australasia. Eurasian populations winter south to Mediterranean area and east to India. In Britain, declined to its lowest numbers in mid-nineteenth century due, at least in part, to demands of plumage trade. Steadily increased there after with protection and increase in reservoirs and gravel-pits, and estimated to now be over 7,000 adult breeding birds