proach. Though occasionally seen to use its wings when
flapping along the top of the water, its powers of flight
are said to be limited, and in walking, its progression has
been asserted to be still more embarrassed; but Mr. Gat-
combe and others have remarked that one kept in the Zoological
Society’s Gardens could run very swiftly from one
place to another, and could stand upright, although in a
somewhat knock-kneed position. The bird is, however, very
seldom found on land, except close to the edge of the water,
into which it returns on the slightest alarm, perfectly conscious
that water alone affords it the requisite protection.
Its food consists of small fishes, aquatic insects, with
some vegetable substances; and a few of its own soft
feathers from the under part of the body are usually found
in its stomach. Examples have often been picked up
choked by the Bull-head or Miller’s Thumb (Coitus gobio),
which they had vainly tried to swallow. Mr. Selby remarks,
“ During winter, when the ponds and brooks become
frozen, Dabchicks betake themselves to the mouths ot
rivers and small retired bays, where they feed upon shrimps,
fry of fish, and marine insects. At this season I haye
several times caught them in Budle Bay, on the coast of
Northumberland, when they happen to be left in small pools
after the recess of the tide. Having first dived, they afterwards
invariably endeavoured to conceal themselves among
the fronds of the algse, rarely attempting to escape by
flight.” Nares, in his Glossary, says that the term Didapper,
applied to the Dabcliick in some counties, means a
little diver.
Like the other species of this genus, the Little Grebe
breeds among the reeds and coarse herbage of the waters
it inhabits, and, considering the size of the bird, it forms
a somewhat large, flat nest of aquatic plants, in which from
four to six eggs are usually deposited from April to August,
for there can be no doubt that two broods are often reared in
the season. The eggs measure about 1'6 by 1 inch, and
when first laid they are white, but soon become stained
with greenish-yellow and brown, from being in contact with
decaying vegetable matter and the soil from the feet of the
bird; by hatching-time they are frequently of a dirty clay-
brown. The female is very careful of her eggs, and seldom
leaves them without covering them over with some of the
vegetable substances by which she is surrounded ; and the
Author agreed with Mr. Selby that the object in thus
covering the eggs is concealment, and not for the purpose
of preserving temperature during incubation. The young
when first hatched are dark brown on the head, neck, and
upper surface, streaked longitudinally with yellowish-brown
on the neck and back, the forehead and cheeks dark slate-
grey, the bill pale rose-colour, the under surface of the
body silvery-white. They take to the water very soon,
swimming about with the parents in pursuit of aquatic
insects and other food; or diving to avoid danger, with all
the apparent facility and confidence that usually attend long
practice.
The following graphic description is given in a letter
addressed by Mr. Chas. Thurnall to Mr. F. Bond, dated
Whittlesford, August 27th :—“ I saw a rather interesting
sight on the river this morning. A Dabchick hatched two
eggs this day week and two the next day; well—I was sitting
in the boat at the junction of two streams, keeping quite
still, when I heard what was evidently the alarm note of
some bird sounding like whit or wit, sometimes repeated twice.
Whilst peeping about to see what bird it could be, the dog
pricked up his ears and shewed signs of something appearing
in the rushes, and immediately two little Dabchicks
shewed themselves between the rushes and the boat. On
seeing me they dived and came up again amongst the rushes:
I pushed the boat gently towards them, wishing to catch one
for stuffing, when the alarm was sounded and sundry splash-
ings took place at the stern of the boat; I then saw the old
bird about a yard off. On remaining motionless some little
time, the young ones swam into the middle of the stream
and remained there for a minute, when the same note was
sounded and the old one appeared to rise from the bottom of
the river close to them. She swam a few feet, the young