LITTLE GREBE. 329 



Family PODICIPEDID^. ' Genus Podiceps. 



LITTLE GREBE. 



PoDicEPS MINOR {Brlsson). 



Double Brooded. Laying season, end of March to early May 

 and July, 



British breeding area : The Little Grebe is 

 commonly and widely distributed throughout the British 

 Islands in all districts suited to its requirements, with the 

 exception of the Shetlands, to which it is only a wanderer 

 in winter. 



Breeding habits : The Little Grebe is a resident in 

 the British Islands, but subject to considerable local and 

 southern movement during winter. Its breeding-haunts 

 are reed- and rush-fringed pools, canals, and slow-running 

 streams ; it is remarkable what a small sheet of water 

 will in many instances content a pair of these interesting 

 little birds. It may be found on almost every description 

 of water, provided always that there is considerable cover 

 in the shape of rushes, reeds, equisetums, and the like, 

 growing in the shallows, and long coarse grass, tall plants, 

 and weeds of all kinds flourishing on the banks. Al- 

 though several pairs may occasionally be seen swimming 

 at no great distance, even on the same sheet of water, the 

 Little Grebe is not at all gregarious during the breeding 

 season, and each pair keeps to a favourite spot, resenting 

 any intrusion of their neighbours. The nest is usually a 

 more or less floating structure, in most cases built up 

 from the bottom, and is made amongst the reeds, often 

 at some distance from the bank at the edge of a patch of 

 rushes or iris. Less frequently it is made amongst the 

 vegetation growing on the banks of the water, more 

 often just in the water, and partly concealed by over- 



