Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/229

GREBE. 203 GREECE. didiculty, ami all their motions on land are awk- ward. They sometimes sluitUc along un their bel- lies like seals. But in water they are e.treniely agile;, they swim rapidly, dive with e.xtreme quickness if alarmed, and pass to very consider- able distances under water. They feed on lishes, batrachians, crustaceans, and other aquatic ani- mals, 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 group is very wide, and some of its species are also very widely distributed. Grebe-shooting is a favorite anuise- ment in some places. The grebe is pursued by a boat, while it seeks to escape by diving and swim- ming under water. One incentive to this hunting is the demand of fashion for grebe-skins. The plumage of the breast is very dense, silky, and warm, and has been in great vogue for women's muff's and for hat and dress trimmings. Thousands of these interesting birds are sacrificed yearly for these trivial piii-poses — a slaughter w-hich ought at once to be stopped. Xone of the grebes ai'e bright-colored, black, brown, gray, and white being the usual shades, but a few forms have steel-blue, tawny, or rich reddish-brown mark- ings on the head and neck. Yhen in full breeding plumage some have the head ornamented with handsome tufts. In this condition their appear- ance is very different from that of the young or the adults in winter. Rather more than twenty species of grebes are known, of which at least half a dozen are North American. The best known of these is the dabchick, which is closely allied to the European little grebe (I'odiccps minor). The American dabchick or pied-bill grebe, or 'hell-diver' {I'odili/inbus podiceps) , is a common bird from the Argentine Republic north- ward to Hudson Bay, and it breeds locally throughout its range. It winters from the mid- dle United States .southward. It is small, not much more than a foot long, brownish-black above, fading into pure white on the belly. The bill is light bluisli, encircled by a broad, black band. The dabchick is an exceptionally expert swimmer, and can swim for some distance with only its bill above water. The nest is made of vegetation in the water, sometimes practieall}- floating on the surface, so that the young can take to the water as .soon as they are hatched. The largest American species is the Western grebe (JEchmophoriis occidentalis) , which is from two to two and one-half feet long, and has a straight, .slender, and acute bill, three inches long. There are two very distinct varieties, one much smaller than the other, but both are com- mon in the Western I'nited States. The red- necked grebe (Coliiiiihiix HolbocUii) is another large species, 10 inches long, found throughout North America, but in the United States only in winter. Two of the commonest American grebes are the horned grebe (folinnhiis atirihis) and the American eared grebe (Coh/mbus nipri- collis. var. CdJiforJiirnx) . The former is found throughout North America, the latter only west of the Mississippi. The smallest American grebe is the Saint Domingo g-rebe iColt/nihns Doiiiiiii- ciis), which is fomid in the warmer parts of America, and only as far north as the valley of the Rio Grande, It is less than 10 inches long, the bill is very short, and there are no crests Vol. IX.— h. or rufl's. The great-crested grebe of Europe {(Jolymbus or I'odiccps aiis(atus) is a large and conspicuous species, 2 feet long ; its occurrence in Xortli America seems to be very doubtful. See riate of .i.i3.TR0ss, Auks, etc. GRECCHETTO, gre-ket/to, Ir.. See Casti- til.lD.XK, (ilOV.-NM liENKDF.'l'iO. GRECIAN COFPEE-HOUSE, A well- known place of meeting for the wits of the eighteenth century, situated in Devereux Court, 1 ondon. Steele huniorously affected to write the more ■learned' papers of the Taller there. GRECIAN DAUGHTER, Tiik. Arthur Mur- phy's l)est-known tragedy, produced in 1772 and plaVed as late as 1830. ' GRECIAN GAMES. See Games, Ancient. GREECE. A kingdom occupying the southern l)rolongation of the Balkan Peninsula, between (he -Egean and Ionian seas. Its mainland ex- tends southAvard from about latitude 40° N. to t'ape Jlatapaii in latitude 3fi° 23'. Its only land boundary is Turkey on the north. It includes, in addition to the provinces on the mainland, numer- ous islands, in both the ^-Egean and Ionian seas, it.s land area in the east being about one-fifth of the land surface of the .Egean Archipelago. The total area, 2-5,014 square miles, embraces 20,86.5 square miles of mainland and 4149 square miles of ishiiuls ; in other words, tiie area of Greece is half that of England, or a very little larger than West Virginia. The arena was slightly re- duced by the Treaty of 1897, ending the last war between Greece and Turkey, which added some jiarts of northern Thessaly to the Ottoman do- main. Topography. The coast waters are shallow and penetrate far into the land, deep gulfs on op]iosite coasts dividing the mainland into North- ern and Central Greece, and the peninsula of Peloponnesus, or the Morea. The Peloponnesus is connected v.ith Central Greece by the Isthmus of Corinth, which at its narrowest part is only four miles wide, and which is pierced by a ship canal. No other country in the world has so large a proportion of coast to area as Greece. It has a mile of coast for every 10 miles of surface. The country is nearly cut in two by the gulfs of Corinth and .Egina. In spite of this fact, Greece is not rich in good harbors (except in a few cen- tral and highly favored parts of the country), cwing to a wall of mountains which rises from the shore on long stretches of the coasts. Though the east coast has many fine ports, the harborless shores include the entire east sides of Thessaly, and of the long island of Euboea, and the east side of the Peloponnesus, south of the Gulf of Argolis to the most southern rock mass of Cape Malia. Volo, on the gulf of that name, is the only port of Thessaly. The best harbor facilities are found in the beautiful Gulf of .Egina, where the fine natural harbor of the Pir.TUs is the port of .Vthens, six miles inland. Still farther south the shores of the Gulf of .Argolis, penetrating deeply into the Peloponnesus, are rich in harbors. The gulfs of .Egina and .rgolis have always been the centre of Greek sea life: and the Gulf of .Egina contributed in no small measure to the influences .tiial made Athens the centre of Greek culture. The south coast of the Peloponnesus is deeply indented bv the Laconian Gulf (Gulf of Maratho- nisi, or Kolo-Kythia) and the Messenian Gulf (Gulf of Koroni). The west coast of the Pelo-