LITTLE GREBE. 317 



Frost drives the Dabchick to the coast, but it also visits 

 estuaries and tidal gutters for food, independently of weather. 



The smallest of the grebes is much rounder and squatter 

 than its congeners, and usually swims with the neck curved ; it 

 is, however, the absence of tail, and its habit of fluffing up the 

 feathers of the hinder end — tail-coverts by courtesy — which 

 gives it a characteristically bluff finish. Macgillivray, speaking 

 of the bird in flight, describes "its large paddles projecting 

 beyond its blunt end." Its bill is short and stout. The bird is 

 browner than the Eared Grebe, and has neither tufts nor frill ; 

 in winter it is still browner on the upper parts. It flies frequently, 

 with a quick flutter of short, rather rounded wings, and if dis- 

 turbed near the bank, will fly for a dozen yards and dive 

 immediately it drops. The white on the inner webs of the 

 secondaries hardly shows in flight, and not at all when 

 swimming ; it is concealed by the overlap. " Ducker," 

 " Dowker," or " Dipper," of the vernacular, indicate its habits ; 

 it is a persistent diver, slipping under without surface disturbance, 

 or with a vigorous plunge, kicking up a little shower of spray 

 with its lobed feet. Dives may last twenty-five seconds, or the 

 bird may reappear immediately ; I have seen it bob up stern 

 foremost. In clear and shallow water its movements may be 

 observed ; I have exercised it in my bath and watched it in a 

 stream, and never saw the wings used, even when turning ; they 

 are tightly held to the sides. On the surface, when not hurried, 

 the foot strokes are alternate, but under water it progresses 

 in a series of rapid jerks, vigorously rowing itself along. At 

 the beginning of the stroke the feet are at right angles to the 

 body, at the finish they almost meet behind the so-called tail, 

 and the half rotation of tarsi and toes, already described, is 

 very distinct ; so lateral is the stroke that a bird swimming 

 at the bottom does not stir the mud. Air bubbles clinging 

 to the feathers give it a silvery, filmy appearance under water. 



After a dive a Dabchick, if nervous, protrudes the head and 



