THE GREAT CRESTED GREBE. 389 



case of accident to the original nest. From a nest 

 which had drifted to the open water of Loch Skene 

 from its place among the reeds, I have seen the 

 bird remove the eggs, four in number, to a reserve 

 nest whose moorings had not been loosened by the 

 storm. The eggs were in all probability carried 

 below the wing of the female bird as it swam from 

 nest to nest, the male remaining on the reserve nest 

 from the moment the first egg was transferred to 

 it. On another occasion I saw a nest, on which the 

 female was sitting, drift from one side of Loch of 

 Park, in Aberdeenshire, to the other, in such favour- 

 able circumstances that the act of incubation was not 

 interrupted. The female continued sitting while the 

 nest floated across the water; and although our 

 boat was rowed within a yard of her new position, 

 she still remained on the nest. On the following 

 day the young birds were afloat. 



I have it on the authority of Mr. David Wilkie, 

 a patient observer of nature, that on the same loch 

 a nest witli six highly incubated eggs was com- 

 pletely wrecked during a storm, the eggs disappear- 

 ing in the water. The birds, with commendable 

 affection (and no less commendable courage, for a 

 boating party were fishing close by), recovered the 

 eggs by diving, their journeys to the bottom being 

 frequently unrewarded. The eggs as regained were 

 placed upon a reserve nest, and four of them were 

 hatched on the fourth or fifth day thereafter. As 

 no addled eggs were discovered in the nest on a 

 search after the young birds had been hatched, it is 

 probable that two of the eggs had not been recovered. 



Another fact, regarding the removal of a brood of 

 young dabchicks by the parent birds from disturbed 

 to more i)eaceful quarters, is here worthy of record. 

 The dabchicks were hatched in a large pool in the 

 Moss of Park ; and having been disturbed by the 

 frequent incursions of a batch of young dogs which 

 Mr. Wilkie was then breaking, and by the diminished 

 size of the pool after a protracted drought, the female 



