THE GKEAT CRESTED GREBE. 387 



its body. This renders walking an awkward feat, 

 and almost impossible except for a very short 

 distance. Its flight may be described as a sort of 

 compromise between that of the Duck and the 

 Magpie ; and its attempts at walking resemble the 

 ill-timed movements of an excited puppet, in w^hich 

 it is difficult to say whether the feet or the Avings 

 are exercised most. Like the Corncrake it is difficult 

 to flush, except on its first arrival at its summer 

 quarters. When flushed it will take a circular 

 flight, rising high in the air and returning to the 

 spot from Avhence it was driven, immediately to 

 disappear beneath the surface of the water. Its 

 peregrinations on foot are mostly limited to the 

 boggy flats on the margins of the water into which 

 it can almost instantaneously withdraw itself, and 

 accordingly its actions can hardly be studied with- 

 out the aid of a telescope. The wanton gracefulness 

 of the Grebe is seen to best advantage in what 

 appears to be its true element — the water. While 

 swimming it carries its head close to the surface, 

 like a rat, and its aptness in diving is truly 

 marvellous. Notwithstanding these peculiarities, 

 our poets have either overlooked or set aside the 

 Grebe as a subject unsuited to the muse. So far 

 as I can recollect at the moment, Pope is the only 

 poet of note who has adverted to this bird; and his 

 description of its comportment is so graphically 

 expressed in a couplet, that I cannot here refrain 

 from quoting the lines : 



"As when a dabchick waddles through the copse 

 On feet and wings, and wades, and hops." * 



The birds, when plentiful, are gregarious ; and 



* If the poets have not viHfied or traduced the Grebe, as 

 they have some species, they have all but ignored it. This 

 fact is all the more remarkable when we take into account 

 the extent to which the skin of the bird (including what 

 passes current as such) is used in making those cuffs and 

 collars for ladies, which, be the fashion what it may, are 

 always in vogue. 



