3 [8 THE BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



body only, and often swims to the side, sheltering under the 

 bank with the bill alone above the surface, where it holds itself 

 in position by gentle circular strokes. Birds thus hiding may 

 be taken from the water ; I have captured several. When held 

 in my hand the feet stuck out at right angles, and remained in 

 that position when the birds were placed on the ground ; they 

 fell forward on to the breast. This impotence is delusive ; one 

 bird, placed on the bank, took a sudden spring into the water 

 and dived, and another, released further away, sprang up and 

 ran rapidly on its toes, then flew to the water, struck with its 

 breast and ricochetted two or three times before it dived. A 

 captive Dabchick stood and walked well, its tarsi slightly bent, 

 and when resting — a ball of feathers — held the legs well up, 

 the toes forward, and the tarsus crossing the tibia, in the 

 manner first described by Prof. Newstead. Fresh-water molluscs, 

 crustaceans, and insects are the main food, but small fish are 

 captured, and occasionally unwisely. I found one bird with a 

 three-inch bull-head, Coitus gobio^ fixed in its distended gape, 

 the gill spines of the fish deeply embedded in the bird's mouth : 

 I have heard of similar fatalities. The call is short, a soft, 

 subdued note, not unlike the whistle of the Teal, but the rippling 

 trill is loud and clear, a rapidly repeated double note, which 

 begins suddenly and runs down the scale. 



The nest (Plate 134), usually floating, is a large collection of 

 weeds, mostly brought from under water, and the eggs are 

 normally covered when the bird is absent. I saw one bird 

 conceal the eggs with four smart right and left pecks, and slip 

 into the water, in three seconds. Four to six white, but soon 

 stained, eggs of the usual grebe type are laid in April, but 

 later clutches are common ; the size is about r4 by i inch. 

 The young have brown and black down streaked with white, 

 and can dive as soon as they take to the water, but prefer to 

 snuggle under the parental scapulars. The old birds dive when 

 the young are on their backs, but the little ones rise like corks 



