several pairs of Dabcliicks have reared their broods
annually on the ornamental water in St. James's Park.
Mr. Harting has recorded the finding of a nest on the
Round Pond in Kensington Gardens, and I have several
times seen Dabchicks near the bridge that spans the
Serpentine; these metropolitan Grebes naturally become
perfectly tame and permit very close observation, but in
less frequented localities they are, in my experience,
somewhat shy of man during the summer months, and
as the water is their natural home concealment is easy.
My principal opportunities of close observation of this
bird in England have been on the river Nene during
protracted frosts ; at these seasons almost every " wake "
or hole in the ice is tenanted by one or two Dabchicks
or "Didoppers" as they are locally called, the vigour
and suddenness of their dives, and their fashion of
coming to the surface again like a cork, as if they could
not help it, are most amusing, and have often detained
me a delighted spectator, till my numbed feet warned
me that it would be prudent to move on. In the
summer-time the Dabchick obtains much of its food
upon or close to the surface of the water, in the shape
of aquatic insects and tadpoles ; but, when the frost has
put an end to the existence of the insects, and tadpoles
have developed into hybernating frogs, the minute fry of
fishes furnish our birds with their daily food. Although
these birds are very averse to take wing, they can, and
frequently do, take considerable aerial journeys, as is
proved in my experience, not only by several instances
of their being killed by contact with telegraph and other
wires, but also by their sudden appearance upon isolated