48 GAME BIRDS, WILD-FOWL AND SHORE BIRDS. 



pickerel which had tried to seize it by the feet. The Grebe is 

 al)le in some way to sink gradually backward into the water, 

 like a "scared frog," sustain itself at any depth, and swim 

 about with a little of the back showing, or with merely the 

 head or bill out of water. When injured it will sometimes 

 dive or sink, swim in among the water plants, come up quietly, 

 showing only its bill above the surface, and, thus concealing 

 itself, await the departure of its enemy. I have known a 

 gunner to declare, at such a time, that the bird must have 

 committed suicide, "as it never came up." I have never seen 

 this species use its wings in flight under water, and ornitholo- 

 gists generally agree that it does not, but the speed that it 

 sometimes attains leads me to believe that occasionally the 

 wings are thus used. Audubon declares that he has seen one 

 use its wings while swimming under his boat. 



This species apparently is averse to flight. It cannot rise 

 from the land, and rises from the water only after a run along 

 the surface against the wind ; but when once in the air it flies 

 quite fast, with rapidly beating wings, neck fully stretched and 

 feet trailing behind. 



The nest, a mass of wet, muddy vegetation, anchored by 

 growing grass or reeds, but often practically floating on the 

 water, is an unattractive home for the little dabchicks. They 

 tumble off into the water immediately after thej^ leave the 

 eggshell. Thereafter their only nest is the back of the mother 

 bird, to which they scramble as she rises beneath them. 

 When she dives they are left floating on the surface, but soon 

 resume their place when she comes up. She can turn her 

 head and feed them, and there they snuggle down amid the 

 feathers between her shoulders, only their little heads showing 

 above the contour of her back. 



The food of the Pied-billed Grebe, according to Audubon, 

 "consists of small fry, plant seeds, aquatic insects and snails; 

 along with this they swallow gravel." He also found in their 

 gizzards a quantity of hair and a feather-like substance which 

 he " at length found " to be the down of certain plants, such 

 as thistles, with the seeds remaining undigested and attached. 



