THE PIED-BILLED GREBE. 



893 



cannot gi\'e a much better account of themsel\-es. Such an exhibition is 

 also \'ery imprudent according to the first canon of PoiHlynibine ethics, 

 whicli reads : "Never do anything which by imphcation may be construed 

 by robber man as betrax'ing interest in matrimon}'." 



Sometin:es, instead of diving as (juiclc as a flash, the bird, if it thini<s 

 itself unobserved and wishes to escape, will settle slowly into the water 

 and disappear like a perforated tin can, without leaving a ripple behind. 

 Once under water the di\'er makes marvelous progress, apparently without 

 assistance from the wings. And if it is undesirable to appear on exhibi- 

 tion again, the bird requires only to thrust the tip of the bill as far as 

 the nostrils 

 a b o \- e the 

 water f r o m 

 time to time. 

 Thinking t o 

 test their 

 powers both 

 of d i \' i n g 

 and flight, I 

 once pursued 

 a company 

 of twentv-five 

 P i e d - b i 1 1 s 

 about a two- 

 acre opening 

 in the ice ni 

 the Licking 

 Reservoir, in 

 Ohio. T h e 

 birds would 

 neither fly 

 nor try to es- 

 cape beneath 

 the surround- 



Takcn at Soutli Tacovia. 



Photo by the Author. 



A NEST IN OrEX W ATER. 



ing ice, preferring rather to jila}' hide-and-seek with me in the b(5at. Some 

 came to the surface and got a single gulj) of air, while others fearlessly 

 presented a broadside view, and others still paddled about with only the 

 head sticking out of water. They are said, however, to take wing easily 

 and to fly rapidly. On land they are unable to rise and flounder about 

 therefore quite helplessly. 



This Grebe appears upon salt water more frequently, I think than 

 has been commonly supposed. It is nearly resident in this State, retreating 



