Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/90

Rh very short body, and the peculiar structure of their feet, which are not only placed far behind, but have the tarsi flat tened and elongated toes furnished with broad lobes of skin. In Europe we have five well-marked species of Podiceps, the commonest and smallest of which is the very well-known Dabchick of our ponds, P. fluviatilis or minor, the Little Grebe of ornithologists, found throughout the British Islands, and with a wide range in the Old World. Next in size are two species known as the Eared and Horned Grebes, the former of which, P. nigricollis, is a visitor from the south, only occasionally showing itself in Britain, while the latter, P. auritus, has a more northern range, breeding plentifully in Iceland, and is a not uncommon winter- visitant. Then there is the larger Red-necked Grebe, P. griseigena, also a northern bird, and a native of the subarctic parts of both Europe and America, while lastly the Great Crested Grebe, P. cristatus, or Gaunt known as the Loon on the meres and broads of East Anglia, and some other parts of England, is also widely spread over both Worlds, and though apparently not found within the tropics, is known in the extreme south as a native of Australia and New Zealand. North America is credited with seven species of Grebes, of which three (P. cristatus, P. griseigena, and P. auritus) are admitted to be specifically inseparable from those already named, and two (P. occidentcdis and P. calif or nicus) appear to be but local forms ; the remaining two (P. domiiiicus and P. ludovicianus) may, however, be accounted 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. micropterus of Mr Gould (Proc. Zool. Society, 1858, p. 220), has been deservedly separated from the genus Podiceps by Messrs Sclater and Salvin (Exot. Ornithology, p. 189, pi. xcv.), owing to the form of its bill, and the aborted condition of its wings, which seem to render it absolutely flightless. Lake Titicaca in Bolivia is, so far as is known at present, its only habitat. Grebes in general, though averse from taking wing, have much greater power of flight than wouhl seem possible on examination of their alar organs, and are capable of prolonged aerial journeys. Their plumage is short and close. Above it is commonly of some shade of brown, but beneath it is invariably white, and so glossy as to be in much request for muff s and the trimming of ladies dresses. Some species are remarkable for the crests or tippets, generally of a golden-chestnut colour, they assume in the breeding season. P. auritus is particu larly remarkable in this respect, and when in its full nuptial attire presents an extraordinary aspect, the head (being surrounded, as it were, by a nimbus or aureole, such as that with which painters adorn saintly characters), reflecting the rays of light, glitters with a glory that passes description. All the species seem to have similar habits of nidification. Water-weeds are pulled from the bottom of the pool, and piled on a convenient foundation, often a setninatant growth of bog-bean (Menyanthes), till they form a large mass, in the centre of which a shallow cup is formed, and the eggs, with a chalky white shell almost equally pointed at each end, are laid the parent covering them, whenever she has time to do so, before leaving the nest. Young Grebes are beautiful objects, clothed with black, white, and brown hair, disposed in streaks, and their bill often brilliantly tinted with orange or yellow. 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. In water, however, they equal if not surpass their parents in the power of diving, which is a special accomplishment of all Grebes.

 GRECO,. Domenico Theotocopuli, commonly called El Greco, was a native of Greece, where he was born about the year 1545. He appears to have studied art at Venice, where it is alleged that Titian was his master. The date of his removal to Spain is unknown; but in 1577 we find him at Toledo, engaged on one of his most admired paintings, that on the parting of the raiment of Jesus. Until now he had been content to follow closely in the footsteps of the Venetian school, and he is generally ad mitted in his earlier works frequently to have approached the style of some of its best representatives ; but in 1579, having been summoned, along with other artists of repute, by Philip II, to contribute to the decoration of the Escorial, he began to aim at greater originality of style with very unfortunate results. The first work in his new manner, having for its subject the martyrdom of St Maurice, was executed in 1579 ; in this, as in all his subsequent produc tions, a dull ashen monotony of colour combines .vith stiff and unnatural drawing to produce an effect which is at no time very pleasant, and is sometimes absolutely repulsive. El Greco, however, continued to be held in considerable repute in the peninsula ; sonnets in his honour are to be found in the writings both of Gongora and Pallavicino; and he became the founder of a school in which many of the disciples excelled their master. He practised sculpture and architecture as well as painting, and is said by Pacheco to have written with great learning and ability upon all these arts ; none of his books, however, have come down to our time. He died at Toledo in 1625.

 

 

REECE is a European kingdom, occupying the southern portion of the most easterly of the three peninsulas which Europe projects into the Mediterranean. By its own inhabitants it is called Hellas, as it was also in antiquity, and the name Greece, by which in one form or other it is known in most European languages, was given to it by the Romans, and was not iised by any Greek writer, so far as we know, before Aristotle. Why the Romans called it so is an obscure point, but the most probable and usually accepted explanation is that they gained their first knowledge of the country from a tribe in the north-west of Greece who were called Græci (Γραικοί), and that they accordingly gave the name of that tribe to the whole country. The name Greece or Hellas has been applied at different times to territory of widely different extent. At first Hellas denoted nothing but the spot in Thessaly where the tribe of Hellenes dwelt, and in later times, after Philip of Macedon obtained a seat at the Amphictyonic council, it meant the whole peninsula south of the Balkan mountains (Hæmus) including Macedonia and Thrace ; but at the period of its greatest distinction it excluded these two regions, and was restricted to the part of the peninsula to the south of the Cambunian range and the islands of the surrounding seas. Its ancient limits, however, cannot be rigidly defined, for (1) its northern frontier seems never to have been precisely settled, some writers excluding Thessaly which was generally taken in, and others including part of Epirus which was generally left out ; and (2) the name Hellas expressed not so much a geographical as an ethnological unity. It was the country of the Hellenes. Wherever Greeks settled 