T 



BORN IN A BOAT. 



HERE is no bird more skilful in diving than the 

 Grebe. He has a trick of sinking out of sight 

 which is so wonderful that you hardly believe that the 

 bird has been in, sight at all. Or if he is in a hurry 

 he turns head over heels like a duck, and then the 

 game is to guess where he will come up. It may be 

 to the right, to the left, far or near, and sometimes 

 you will think he has never come up at all. If a 

 Grebe ' is fired at, he will start at the flash of the 

 powder and be safe under water before the shot 

 reaches the spot where he was. 



When the mother Grebe is swimming about with 

 her little ones, teaching them to dive after minnows 

 and bolt them down whole, she will often take them 

 for a very curious ride. They get on her back, grasp 

 her feathers tightly with their feet, and she dives 

 while they hold bravely on. I watched a mother 

 once who had only a single chick, though the family 

 is usually large. When the pair saw me, the little 

 fellow swam to his mother and she prepared to take 

 him down in the usual way. But either she went too 

 fast or he lost his hold, for when she disappeared he 

 was washed off, and sat there bobbing up and down 



